Adelaide Post of 16 June 1868
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT.
Electric Telegraph Department (General Superintendent's Office, Melbourne),
18th February, 1868.
Sir,—I have the honour to submit the following report on the condition of this department for the year ending 31st December, 1867.
EXTENSION OF LINES
The sum of £2413 16s. 6d. has lapsed on this account and will require to be revoted on the Estimates for the current year in order that the work may be carried out.
The extension proposed during 1866 of a line from Swan Hill to Euston in connection with the direct interior line from Adelaide to Sydney via Wentworth, Euston, Balranald, Deniliquin and Hay, still remains undecided but, as I have before discussed, the great importance of this extension in relation to our intercolonial business, I consider that it is only necessary now to bring the subject again under notice with the view of urging the matter on your attention. A glance at the map of this colony will show that, although the southern and eastern districts are comparatively well provided with telegraphic communication, the very large district extending north and west from Swan Hill is without such a facility for advancement unless through offices at considerable distances within the adjoining colonies. I trust that this extension may not long be deferred, as the want of the communication is much felt by the department.
On the 2nd December last I submitted a report on the extension of a line from Port Albert to Wilson's Promontory. Since the date of that report, it has occurred to me that, as the proposed new point of communication on the southern coast line of this island would undoubtedly be of great advantage to the maritime interests of the adjoining colonies (New South Wales and South Australia), it might be proper that the Governments of those colonies should be requested to bear some equitable portion of the first cost of the extension with the understanding that the work should subsequently be maintained at the sole cost of this colony. The expenditure would thus fall lightly on the three colonies but, if confined to Victoria alone, the disbursement necessary on account of such a purely nonremunerative work might appear excessive.
The direct interior line between Adelaide and Sydney, referred to in my report for 1866, was opened for communication on the 1st May last. The advantages of this line are, of course, largely in favour of the two colonies within whose boundaries it has been constructed, but some indirect benefit also accrues to this colony through the more regular maintenance of intercolonial communication now attainable. The actual loss in revenue, however, to this department, through the discontinuance of the business formerly transacted between Sydney and Adelaide via Melbourne, amounts to about £1,250 per annum.
The order for a supply of the rapid-writing automatic instruments, mentioned in my last report, has been c&ocellcd, owing to the enhanced coBt of manufacture and the probable gain in the working of the lines being overborne by the large expenditure involved. I have arranged, however, to be informed at the earliest date when progressive Improvements in the instruments employed on some of the most important British and Continental lines may have removed the objections at present in force on the subject under mention, so far as they may relate to the conditions presented in this colony. The extensive repiira required, through renewing the decayed poles ou several sections of our most important lines, particularly referred to in my previous report, have been held over for the present, through circumstances beyond my control; but it is most desirable that the renewal of poles, urgently requisite on the line between Melbourne, Williamstown, and Geelong, should be proceeded with at the earliest possible dete. It would be advisable, on economical grounds, that the timber for these poles should be either Swan River mahogany, or sound redgum, sawn to the proper dimensions. It wpuld not be possible, I fear, to obtain a sufficient suppiy of redgum of proper length; but the same difficulty would have no existence as regards the Western, Australia .mahogany, the (Government of South Australia having already employed it in considerable quantity for the electric telegraph lines in that colony About 5,000 pieces, in lengths of from 25 ft. to 35 ft., and from 8 in. to l0 in. square, would be required for present use here. According to data obtained, through the use of the Swan River mahogany in South Australia during several years past, I estimate the durability of that timber as being at least one-half greater than that of our ordinary native growth (excepting red-gum), and as the cost of the article supplied under contract in South Australia is but very little in excess of the current price for the best red-gum, I have hopes that good results may be attained by introducing in this colony the timber above mentioned for the especial purpose named.
INTERRUPTIONS TO COMMUNICATION.
On the Melbourne and Gipps Land line, the Wood's Point line, the Beechworth line and the Cape Otway line, no less than thirty-five whole days have been lost while on other lines a loss of eighty-four hours and a half, in broken periods, has been sustained. These interruptions have been traced almost wholly to heavy gales, and to the occasional floods in several remote districts. The weather in this respect having been exceptional in many localities during a portion of tbe spring, the interruptions are considerably above the average. The interruptions to the intercolonial communication beyond the boundaries of this colony only amounted to one whole day and, at broken periods, fifty-nine hours.
COMPLAINTS OF ERRORS, DELAYS, ETC.
The record book shows that during 1867 thirty-three (33) official complaints have been received in seventeen of which negligence or omission was traced to officers or servants of the department and the cases dealt with accordingly under the Civil Service Act. In the remaining sixteen, it was not found that blame could be attached to this service. In view of the fact that 235,648 telegrams, containing at least 3,980,000 words, were transmitted and received during the past year, I consider that a maximum of only seventeen instances of absolute error or omission speaks well for the carefulness and efficiency of the 198 persons engaged in this branch of the public service.
GUARANTEED OFFICES.
As mentioned in my previous report, offices have been established provisionally for five years at several places in the country districts, under a bond signed by five responsible persons, securing the department against loss, as between revenue and expenditure, to the extent ef £150 and £130 per annum respectively.\
The results up to 31st December, 1867, are as follow:
Penshurst: Expenses, £216; revenue, £63; due by guarantors, £153.
Coleraine: Expenses, £87; revenue, £50; due by guarantors, £36.
New offices, under similar conditions, have received your official sanction to be opened at Mansfield and at Serpentine; but, la the absence of available funds, further action is for tbe present suspended. A guarantee bond has also been executed by residents at Stringer's Creek (Walhalla), with the view of securing the extension of a line from Rosedale to that place and the establishment of an office.
Five per cent, per annum is guaranteed to the Government on the expenditure necessary for extending a line, and £150 per annum on account of the office, on the same terms as in the cases already mentioned. The cost of this extension would not exceed £2,250. It may be desirable to explain here that the decision in reference to requiring a guarantee bond securing the department against absolute loss on opening new stations in remote localities was brought about through the increasing number of nonremunerative offices and the pressing necessity for the adoption of the practice, established during many years past in New South Wales, of obtaining a specific bond from responsible persons willing to pay for the facilities obtainable through the opening of a new station where the revenue might only meet a fractional part of the expenditure involved.