THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN TELEGRAPHS.
The year that has just closed has been one of satisfactory progress in the Telegraph Department as well as in other branches of the public service. Twelve months ago we drew prominent attention to the great expansion in the business of 1877 as compared with that of the previous year and the record 1878 shows that the increase has been well maintained.
From particulars furnished to us by the Department, we learn that the number of local messages transmitted amounted to 376,244. Of intercolonial telegrams 99,170 were sent, making a total of 475,414 for which cash to the extent of £32,425 has been received in the colony. The average price per message is thus about one shilling and fourpence. The rate in 1877 was rather less. As the corresponding number of telegrams in 1877 was only 408,477 and the cash receipts £27,747, it will be seen that there has not only been a large augmentation in the number of telegrams but there has also been an increase in their average length.
The enlargement in the business between the Australian Colonies and Europe is particularly striking, the excess in the telegrams sent both ways amounting to about 5,000. The cable messages forwarded by all the colonies reached the total of 8,070, the telegrams received numbering 9,371. The revenue from messages sent from Australia was £69,396 1s. 10d., and from those received here £77,949 19s. 2d. Of these sums the proportion retained by South Australia is £16,391 6s. 10d., more than £3,300 beyond the amount falling to her share in the previous twelve months.
Not many new stations have been opened during the year but several townships have been placed in communication with the metropolis. They are:
Minlaton, Reedy Creek, Marrabel, Lucindale, Yankalilla, Hallett and Government Gums.
The amount of work done in the construction department has been considerably less than in 1877 but in that year it must be remembered the line to Western Australia was carried out.
It is satisfactory to learn, however, that 156½ miles of line and 533¼ of wire have been added to the previous totals. The new lines constructed have been from:
Additional wires have been laid between:
Thirty miles of posts have also been put down between Adelaide and Port Augusta to carry a portion of the duplicate system of wires. The additional accommodation provided in these directions has been rendered absolutely necessary by the immense amount of business now done especially between Adelaide and Port Augusta, the latter place being the great central repeating station for messages from Port Darwin and Western Australia.
There are now in South Australia 4,217½ miles of telegraph lines and 5,686¼ of wire and the lines authorized or in course of construction will add 764 miles to this already large total. In addition, the colony has practically undertaken the construction of a duplicate overland line to the Queensland boundary — a work which will call forth all the energies of the Superintendent of Telegraphs and of the able staff of constructors he has at his command.
The record of interruptions during the year gives special emphasis to the unique difficulties under which the longer telegraph wires in South Australia are maintained. There have been no less than nineteen interruptions of over twenty-four hours duration on the Port Darwin line. These have been caused by bush fires, lightning, floods, trees falling on the lines and especially by the action of the natives who amuse themselves by breaking the insulators, cutting the wires and playing other pranks of an equally aggravating nature. In no case, we are informed, has an interruption occurred which could have been foreseen and guarded against. For five days the line between Daly Waters and the Katharine was out of order through bush fires and heavy storms which caused trees to fall upon it. For four and a half days communication was cut off at Willochra owing to heavy floods washing down a number of poles and on one occasion Australia was left without telegraphic intelligence for three days in consequence of the natives in the interior having dragged the wire to the ground and placed heavy logs upon it. Only one interruption has taken place on the South Australian section of the line to Western Australia. This was due to the breaking of an insulator between Port Augusta and Port Lincoln and lasted several days. The damage could not be repaired earlier on account of the impossibility of travelling along the line at more than a walking pace and the absence of water for the horses of the party.
Considering the enormous amount of work that has to be performed by the Telegraph Department, the number of well founded complaints has been singularly few, and most of these have been traceable either to the insufficient staff placed at the disposal of the Superintendent or to the inadequate facilities for dealing with glut traffic. The Government, we are glad to notice, have been taking steps to mitigate the former source of inconvenience but more needs to be done towards remedying the latter.
There are some lines which at busy seasons are quite incapable of promptly performing the work required of them and the public who use them very justly object to the delay which this incapacity entails. It is clear that if the department is to properly discharge its functions and to give satisfaction to its customers that duplication or where necessary triplication, of wires will have to be resorted to. Nowhere is the necessity for increased facilities for the dispatch of telegrams more urgent than in connection with some of the lines between Adelaide and the capitals of adjoining colonies. The intercolonial business is expanding so enormously that the existing wires have become unequal to the expeditious transmission at all hours of the day of the mass of messages showered in upon the operators. Certain of the local lines are not in a better position and of course every year will enhance the difficulty.
Mr. Todd deserves every credit for doing his utmost to advance with the times and with the requirements of traffic but he has been hampered by want of means. Seeing the important position which South Australia holds among the Australian Colonies in the matter of telegraphic communication, no pains and no expense should be spared by the powers that be to ensure thorough efficiency in the operations of the department.
The European Telegraph: The cable on the European line is still interrupted, but we this morning publish telegrams brought by mail steamer from Singapore to Batavia. We are informed by the Telegraph Department that a special steamer will leave Batavia for Singapore at noon to-day, messages for transmission by which must be delivered at the Office by 10 o'clock this morning.
An extra piece from the same article:
New Year's Eve: Another old year has been rung out and another new year has been rung in. For two days past most of the people of Adelaide have been holiday making and the weather being particularly fine and cool for the season excursions to the seaside, the hills or other parts of the country have been so general that the streets of the city have had a comparatively deserted appearance. On New Year's Eve nearly all the shops in the city were closed but about 7 o'clock the streets became more lively with persons wending their way to the various public entertainments or religious services held at the ordinary hours. At 11 o'clock watchnight services were begun in many of the churches and these seemed to be very largely attended by persons anxious to spend the dividing moment of the years in the presence of the Eternal Father in whose hands are the revolving seasons and the days of the years of men. Discourses appropriate to the solemn hour were delivered and appeals were made that the new year should be better and happier than the old.
The Town Hall bells were pealing out at intervals before midnight to speed the departing era, but as the witching hour approached there was temporary silence in churches and in streets till the hour of 12 was struck by the Post Office clock. Then the Albert Bells rang out a merry peal to welcome the glad new year, a salute was fired in token of its advent and general and particular wishes were expressed by thousands of persons that the year 1879 might be laden with happiness and blessing for those who had lived to see its birth.
On the North Parade at Port Adelaide there was a scene of great excitement as a surge crowd of persons had assembled to witness the letting off of fireworks by the residents on the parade. There was a magnificent display which caused a considerable amount of pleasure and amusement".
Extracted from the full Report: South Australian Register 1 January 1879, p. 5.