Japan by the Japanese/Chapter 28

A postal service on the European system was first inaugurated in March, 1871, by the establishment of a letter post between Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Yokohama.

A fairly regular service for the carrying of official correspondence had been in existence a long time previously. Private correspondence, however, had been carried by town carriers, and this service had developed more and more since the sixteenth century (period of Kambun).

In 1871 the first issue of postage stamps appeared, and postal regulations were established. The carrying out of these regulations, and the sale of postage stamps, were placed under the direction of the Governors of Departments. As the working of this system became well regulated, postal routes were extended to Kobe, Nagasaki, Niigata, Hakodate, etc. The official journal, newspapers, books, and samples of merchandise were considered as articles of letter post.

By 1872 the postal routes extended to nearly all the towns of the Empire. The postal charges were not yet uniform, but regulated by the distance traversed. Moreover, there was a difference of charge on postal matter circulated in the same city, postal matter delivered outside of this radius, and that sent out by local authorities and distributed within the limits of an Administrative District.

In 1873, to overcome the inconveniences of unequal charges then in force, a reformed tariff was adopted, which was not based on the distance traversed, except in the case of postal matter submitted to special charges. This same year the transportation of letters by private enterprise was abolished, and it became the exclusive monopoly of the State. ​Postcards, as well as stamped envelopes and wrappers, were issued to facilitate the means of communication, and, in short, the postal service was organized in a satisfactory manner.

A convention concerning the interchange of telegrams was concluded in 1874 with the United States, and put into execution in the following year.

The Government desiring to develop the postal system beyond the Empire, established in 1875 a service of mail-boats between Japan, Shanghai, and the neighbouring Chinese ports. In 1876 Japanese post-offices were established in China and Corea.

In 1877 the Government joined the Universal Postal Union, and this connection being advantageous to international relations, gave Japan great facilities for postal communications with foreign countries.

In 1878 the Japanese delegates to the Universal Postal Congress at Paris signed the Convention of the Universal Postal Union, drawn up at that congress, and enforced in April of the following year.

An arrangement concerning interchange of the parcel post was concluded in 1879 with the Postal Administration of Hongkong, and put into execution the following year.

In 1882 all parts of the Empire were united by the postal routes, and the post-offices increased to a number hitherto unknown. The postal regulations, although altered several times, became more and more inefficient to meet the changed circumstances, and were replaced the same year by a new postal law, abolishing special charges, and establishing a uniform rate.

In 1883 the Postal Administration, in order to simplify the work of extension, modified the control of local services. The entire country was divided into Postal Districts, in each of which a branch of the Central Administration was established, charged with the control of the local services formerly confided to the Governors of the Departments.

In 1885 reply paid postcards were issued. The same year the delegates sent to the Postal Congress at Lisbon signed the additional Convention concluded at the Congress, which was put into force in April of the following year.

In 1886, with a view to still further ameliorating the supervision of the service, the branch offices of the Administration established in the postal districts were changed to Departmental Directorships of the posts, to which the Administration hand over to a great extent the administrative duties of the posts in their neighbourhood.

The fusion of posts and telegraphs was advantageous to the extension of the system, and advisable for economic reasons, ​and the offices of posts and telegraphs were united little by little.

In 1889 administrative duties were confided to postal and telegraph offices of the first class; at the same time the Departmental Directorships of posts were abolished. In the same year the postal law was revised with a view to reducing by one-half the periodical publications belonging to postal matter included in the third category; to increase the maximum limit of the weight of books, designs, plans, and samples of merchandise included in the fourth category; to include seeds of agricultural products in the fourth category; and to reduce the charges applicable to the postal matter belonging to the last category.

A convention was concluded in 1890 with Canada for the interchange of parcel post, and put into execution in the course of the same year.

The Japanese delegates at the Universal Postal Congress at Vienna signed the Acts concluded by the Congress, which were put into force in July of the following year.

The inland parcel post service, for several years the object of special investigation, was introduced in 1892. This innovation, so advantageous to commerce and industry, gave great facilities to the transportation of articles of small dimensions. The charges for parcels were not yet uniform, but governed by the weight and distance traversed. Parcels delivered outside of towns were charged extra—a regulation soon abolished.

The regulations of the military postal service were established at the time of the expedition of the army into Corea, in June, 1894. These regulations dealt with the treatment of correspondence sent to Japan by the military forces, the sailors and persons attached to the service of army or navy when these were sent into strange countries in time of war and extraordinary emergencies. This correspondence was carried free.

Some months later, war being declared against China, the need of a military postal service made it necessary to instal field post-offices for the correspondence of the expeditionary forces in China. These were authorized to send mails, issue postal orders, and receive savings bank deposits.

Formosa became a Japanese possession by virtue of the treaty of peace with China in 1895, and the postal system was organized there in April, 1896.

In 1895, with a view to encouraging agriculture, seeds, on which the postal charges were reduced anew one-half, were classed in the newly-created fifth category of parcel post.

In 1896 the extra charge for delivering parcels outside of city limits was abolished, the distance limits were greatly ​extended without a corresponding rise in cost, and the maximum weight of parcels increased. In the same year a Japanese post office was established at Soochow, at Hangchow, and at Shashi (China), and in the year following at Mokpo (Corea).

The postal tariff for the International Service was changed in 1897, on the occasion of the adoption by the Government of the Gold Standard. Japanese delegates were sent to the International Congress at Washington, and the conventions and arrangements concluded there were put into force in January of the following year.

In 1898 the maximum size-limit of parcels for the inland postal service was increased.

Post-offices at the creation of the postal service were not divided into classes. It was only in 1873 that they were arranged in four classes, and in 1874 another class was added.

In 1875 these offices were divided anew into five classes. For the towns having several offices, one of them was designated the Central Office, the others, branches. This classification of offices was again submitted to change, when in 1886 the number of classes was limited to three only, with the branches. This classification still exists. In the same year, the fusion of posts and telegraphs having been adopted, post-offices and telegraph-offices situated in the same town were gradually combined, beginning with the most important localities, where the need was greatest. In the post-offices not already provided with telegraph service, it was introduced, and they were transformed into post and telegraph offices.

Postal agencies were established in 1875 in districts remote from post-offices, for the reception of registered objects, and letter-boxes established since the beginning of the postal service, to facilitate the depositing of letters into the post, were increased as the postal service developed.

The number of post-offices, which was only 180 at the end of the first year after the inauguration of the service, had risen to 4,325 at the end of the fiscal year 1898. This large increase was due to the extension of the service, which was limited in 1871 to the three great cities of the Empire—Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto—to the five ports open to foreign commerce—Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, Niigata, and Hakodate—and to all the villages situated on the postal routes uniting the above towns.

To-day there are over 5,000 post-offices, and over 1,800 telegraph-offices, with some 23,000 officials, and more than ​66,000 employés. Some 150,000,000 letters and 350,000,000 postcards are handled yearly. Sixty-eight per cent. of the receipts go towards the expense of maintaining the Department. There is no central Dead Letter Office—such business is looked after in Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, Tokyo, and Sapporo.

Postal routes, which consist in Japan of ordinary routes and railway routes, were originally divided into principal and secondary routes; but since 1883 they have been divided into three classes: the first class comprising the principal routes establishing communication between the large cities, the principal ports and other localities of first importance, and forming the Empire’s great artery of communication; the second class comprising the secondary routes which branch off from the routes of the first class; and the third class serving only for communication between two or more localities of lesser importance.

The annual increase in the postal matter passing through the mails is remarkable in Japan. The number of letters, which during the first year of the European system was only 565,934, was in the following year raised to 2,510,650. This was caused by the fact that the first year the postal service was limited to the more important towns of the Empire, and the second year it increased in proportion to the increase in the extension of postal routes, and to the reduction of the postal charges.

In 1873 the amount of postal matter was nearly quadruple that of 1872, and in 1874 double that of the preceding year. The cause of this rapid increase was attributable to the adoption of the system of uniform charges, to the cessation of private postal transportation, to the considerable increase of post-offices, and also to the increased use of the postcards issued at the close of the preceding year. The increase was less in 1875, the work of extending and perfecting the system being retarded. The amount of correspondence before 1882 still presented an increase of 20 per cent., but in 1883 and 1886 the rate of increase had diminished, especially in 1885, the principal cause of which was the crisis in commercial and industrial circles—a condition happily only momentary. Activity increasing again in 1887, the number of letters augmented annually over 10 per cent., except during the year 1897–98. The war between Japan and China in 1894–1895 increased the correspondence.

The interchange of telegrams with foreign countries began in 1875, after the conclusion of a postal convention with the United States. Before this, sending and receiving posts was effected through the intermediary of the British, ​American, and French post-offices established in the ports opened to foreign commerce. Since the establishment of a line of mail-boats between Japan, China, Corea, and Vladivostock, the bulk of international postal matter has constantly increased. The adhesion of Japan to the Universal Postal Union in 1878 still further facilitated foreign correspondence.

In 1878 the Japanese delegates were sent for the first time to the second Postal Congress, held in Paris, and Japan has been represented by delegates to the Congresses assembled at Lisbon in 1885, at Vienna in 1891, and in 1897 at Washington.

The postal service is not limited to the sending of letters; it deals also with the transmission of money and of parcels of small dimensions, to facilitate commercial and industrial transactions. The Administration of Posts inaugurated an inland parcel post in October, 1892. The post-offices opened for this service at first numbered only 287, and the number of parcels sent was only 40,975, but in proportion as the number of offices was increased, the charges reduced, and the methods of transportation bettered, the annual increase became considerable.

The inland service of parcel post began in 1879, and the first exchange with Hongkong was effected at the same time as those of postal orders. Later the Conventions relating to the interchange of parcel post were successively concluded with Canada in 1890, with Germany in 1894, with England in 1896, and with France in 1898. The limit of weight, the dimensions, and the volume as well as the charge on parcels vary, following the country with which the postal matter is interchanged. The employment of the service increases yearly.

Postal orders, being one of the important branches of postal service, the Administration of Posts desired to create a service in 1871, at the time of the establishment of the letter postal service, but was not able to do so.

However, the regulations for the service of postal orders were published in September, 1874, and were put into force in January, 1875. This was the beginning of the inland postal order service.

At first only one kind of postal order was employed—the ordinary money order—but so that the public could send ​money more rapidly, and transmit even the smallest sums by means of the post, the telegraph money order and the postal voucher (bon de poste) were issued in 1885. The limit to the amount of a postal order differs according to the categories, the charges payable also differ according to the category of the money order.

The international service for postal orders was inaugurated in 1880, as a result of an arrangement between the General Director of Posts of Japan and of the General Director of Posts at Hongkong. Some years after, arrangements relative to the interchange of postal orders were successively concluded with Great Britain, France, United States, Italy, and Canada.

In 1885 Japan adopted the arrangements concerning the international postal order service, the contracting countries with which Japan actually interchanged postal orders according to this arrangement being Germany, Austro-Hungary, Belgium, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Roumania, and Switzerland. For the other countries the interchange was made through the intermediary of the Postal Administration of Great Britain and that of Hongkong.

During the first year of the introduction of the postal order service, the service being limited to the important towns of the Empire, the number of offices and of postal agencies authorized to issue and to pay postal orders was only 272, and the number of postal orders issued 115,703, the total value being 5,310,365 francs; but this service has developed annually; the expansion corresponding to the increase of that of the letter post. The number of bureaus and agencies had risen at the end of the fiscal year 1898 to 3,407, and the number of orders issued to 6,338,456, representing a total value of 140,502,449 francs. This increase was due to the fact that the Postal Administration introduced the service not only into nearly all the offices in the interior of Japan and Formosa, but also to the establishment of offices in China and Corea. The international postal order service installed primarily in 1880 in the offices of Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, and Hakodate, was introduced in 1885 to 120 new Offices.

In 1892 all the offices supplied with the inland postal order service were admitted to participate in the international service, except the branch offices and those bureaus established in Corea and at Shanghai. This last bureau nevertheless was authorized to transact postal order service with the United States of America.

Since the introduction of the international service in 1880 the yearly issue of postal orders has fluctuated, while the ​number of postal orders received for payment constantly increases.

During 1898 the number of international orders issued by Japan was 4,414, total value 283,489 francs, and the number of orders received in Japan for payment was 15,078, representing a total value of 2,169,718 francs.

For the first nine years of the working of the international service, from 1880 to 1888, the number of orders issued amounted to more than double the number received for payment, but from 1889 the latter have predominated. Since 1891–1892 the figure of this constantly-growing increase rose, even during the fiscal year of 1898, to more than eighteen times the number of orders issued the same year. This development was due chiefly to the increased commercial and industrial development of Japan.

The postal savings banks were created in 1875. The Postal Administration, with a view to develop this institution, spread among the public the idea of postal savings banks as a method of encouraging economy and thrift. The rate of interest allowed on deposits was increased little by little, and facilities were accorded for the drawing out and depositing of accounts.

In 1882 the special regulation for postal savings banks, established in 1875, was replaced by a new law, introducing many improvements in the working of the banks.

Thanks to the constant encouragement given by the Administration, and to the development of economic and industrial ideas among the people, the transactions of the postal savings banks have since 1885 greatly developed.

From 1885 to 1888 the Japanese postal bureaus established in China and Corea were included in the postal bank system.

In 1890 a new law, especially regulating the postal savings banks, was promulgated, according to which the maximum individual deposits, including interest, was fixed at 500 yen a year. The same law regulated the purchase of Government Bonds by depositors wishing to increase their deposits beyond the maximum allowed.

The Postal Administration, always desiring to encourage the postal savings banks, simplified as much as possible the operations of withdrawing and depositing accounts, and in 1898 increased the rate of interest.

The postal savings bank system was established in 1896 in connection with all the postal bureaus in Formosa at the time of the establishment of the service of letter posts.

​The postal receipts and expenses, which had followed an annual progression almost constant, and parallel with the increase in correspondence, rose in 1898 to 21,039,343 francs for the former, and 18,178,250 for the latter. During the first fifteen years of the establishment of the postal service, the receipts were generally insufficient to cover the expenses of the work necessary to the development and improvement of the service, but since 1886 the contrary effect was produced, and the receipts have constantly surpassed the expenses, and in 1897 they exceeded the expenses by more than 4,700,000 francs.

The first establishment of the telegraph in Japan dates from 1869. The Japanese Government engaged the services of English engineers in 1868, and in 1869 opened to public service the first line between Tokyo and Yokohama. The authorities made every effort to develop it, but, the economic and commercial situation of the country being little advanced, it was not yet understood how to utilize fully this instrument of modern civilization. The telegraphic communications of the State and of the public were so limited that they hardly sufficed to occupy the daily services of the telegraph operators, and thus the service was not regularly maintained.

The telegraph system began to be better organized after the establishment of the Telegraphic Correspondence Regulation in 1873 and the promulgation of the Telegraph Law of 1874. At the time of the insurrection in the south-west in 1877 (known as the Satsuma Rebellion), the Government was more than ever impressed with the necessity of the prompt development of telegraph-lines. It was during this civil war that the principal lines of the Isle of Kyushyu were connected with those of Japan proper, and that new lines in the Isle of Shikoku were constructed.

In 1878 the Government celebrated the fête of the inauguration of the telegraph, and all the telegraph-offices were officially opened, not only for international service, but also for interior service. However, Japan did not definitely enter the International Telegraph Union till 1879.

Desirous of possessing so useful a mode of communication, the people of localities not supplied demanded the prompt establishment of telegraphic bureaus. The Government, in consideration of this desire, authorized the Administration in 1881 to open telegraphic service where demanded, and offered to defray part of the expenses of first installation. Demands pouring in from all sides, the Administration decided to study ​the situation of the localities, and to examine into the expense of installation and maintenance before consenting to the demands. By this means telegraphic communication was rationally developed, until in 1884 there was no important locality without it.

About this time the employment of the telegraph developed so rapidly that the Administration was obliged to suspend the construction of new lines till it could increase the number of wires on the lines already existing. The service was also reorganized by modifying the laws and telegraphic regulations, and thus determining the rights and obligations of the Telegraph Administration.

The system of payment by distance, which had been in force till this time, was replaced by a uniform charge for all Japan. Since 1890, the country advancing in all ways of progress more and more, the Administration had to occupy itself in the more prompt and regular distribution of telegrams, at the same time increasing telegraph lines and bureaus. In 1890 the cables in the Straits of Tsugaru and in the Inland Sea were doubled. In 1891 the Administration of Telegraphs laid the cables to the Isle of Sado and in the Gulf of Funkawan (Hokkaido), and bought from the Danish Great Northern Telegraph Company the cables connecting Yobuko (Isle of Iki) with Idzugahara (Isle of Tsushima), which formed part of the cable line between Japan and Corea.

When the war between China and Japan was declared in 1894, the Japanese Government constructed telegraph-lines for military purposes in the interior of Corea. These lines, connected with those of Japan, were employed exclusively by the military administrations. After the war they were opened to private as well as to official service. During the war, for the defence of the country, there had been constructed towers of observation along the most important military lines; these were changed into telegraph-offices for the various neighbourhoods traversed by the military telegraph-lines. The wires were increased on the lines between Tokyo and Nagasaki, and between Tokyo and Shimonoseki. A new cable was laid in 1895 between Yobuko and Idzugahara, and in 1897 the Island of Formosa was connected with Japan by a cable for military purposes, which was later opened to general use. Thus, the war contributed much to the progress of the telegraph in Japan.

In the beginning there was no distinction of class made in the telegraph-offices of different localities; it was only in 1873 that the offices were divided into three distinct classes. In 1886 the telegraph-offices of various Ministries or of other administrative sections received a special name, to distinguish them from the ​offices open to the public. There could be no distinction made by name between the police telegraph-offices, or the railway telegraph, where the service was often exclusively for the State, and other offices open to the public. Later, according to the situation of localities and the state of service, many telegraph-offices were combined with those of the post, under the name of post-office and telegraph-offices. Where there were more than two telegraph-offices in the same place, the larger was called ‘central office’ and the others ‘branch offices.’ On the other hand, the Administration of Telegraphs, having been authorized to utilize for public use the telegraph-lines especially established for the service of railroads, created several public offices in the railway termini and stations.

In 1871 there were 4 offices to 8,277,706 of the population; in 1898–99, 1,267, or one to every 34,492 of the population.

Ordinarily the telegraph-lines are built along the public routes or railways. In the beginning, private property was rarely employed in the construction of lines, and there was no need of any regulations governing the employment of public properties for public utility. But this need began to be felt when telegraph-lines were lengthened and grew intricate. In 1874 the Government issued a regulation empowering the Administration to grant an indemnity to the owners of property indispensable for the construction of lines, and in 1884 another regulation established the means of recovering the expenses occasioned by the construction of lines. The details of the arrangement were usually regulated by the customs of each locality. In 1889, when the law for the employment of private property for the public good was promulgated, the need of a special law for telegraphs and telephones was felt. At length, in 1890, the Government promulgated such a law, which is still in force. The construction of telegraph-lines between Tokyo and Yokohama, and between Osaka and Kobe, in 1869–70, was really only the introductory step; the serious work of construction began with the establishment of the principal lines from Tokyo to Nagasaki, and from Tokyo to Amori, which occupied from 1871 to 1874. These lines form, with those from Hakodate to Sapporo, the great artery of Japan. The various lines to the Island of Kyushyu were constructed between 1874 and 1877; those to the Island of Shikoku between 1876 and 1879; the construction of those lines uniting the numerous important places of Japan proper betwen 1876 and 1882; and, last, the lines to Hokkaido, to complete the chain of the islands, in 1892. During this period the construction of principal and secondary lines was carried on at the same time, and these two lines were joined as the work progressed on the main lines; and cables were laid between ​various islands, in order that the telegraphic communication should be extended as rapidly as possible.

During the war of 1894–95 strategic necessity called for the laying of a cable between Kagoshima (Kyushyu) and Keelung (Formosa), to connect the military lines of Japan with those of Formosa, and at the same time to permit of public communication with Formosa.

The Pescadores were soon put into telegraphic communication with Japan, and to-day all the principal islands and cities of Japan are supplied with the telegraph.

Internal telegraph correspondence may be carried on in either Japanese or European languages. For the despatches in Japanese the Government determines the methods of compilation, of distribution, of cipher, etc., by a regulation published in 1869, and for the despatches in a European language the same resolutions were settled upon in 1870.

Despatches are divided into three classes—telegrams of State, telegrams of service, and private telegrams. There are seven methods of transmission: Ordinary telegrams, urgent telegrams, telegrams à suivres, repeated telegrams, telegrams sent to collect, telegrams with acknowledgment of receipt, and reply paid telegrams. Telegraph charges were paid in coin till 1885, when ten kinds of telegraph stamps (from 1 sen to 1 yen) were employed. When later the postal and telegraphic services were joined, telegraph stamps were abolished, and postage stamps only were used for both.

Before 1885 telegrams in Japanese were charged by message, while telegrams in European languages were charged per word. Still the charges for internal despatches varied according to the number of bureaus of transit, and according to the economic and geographical situation of the localities; but in 1885 a uniform charge for all Japan was adopted, except for telegrams in the same city and those exchanged with the islands of Iki and Tsushima. In 1887 the charge for telegrams in European languages was diminished one-half for all Japan, and one-third within a city. The exception made for the two islands of Iki and Tsushima being abolished in 1891, the charges since then have been the same as for all Japan.

During the first years after the establishment of the telegraph system the number of despatches was insignificant, but as Western civilization penetrated into the interior of the country, and commercial and industrial methods developed, the Administration had to make an effort to extend the lines and increase the offices to keep pace with the growing demand; though in 1883 and the five years following there was a remarkable decrease in the number of despatches despite the great increase in lines and offices. This curious phenomenon ​was due to the influence of the commercial and industrial crisis, and after the return of activity in those circles the number of despatches increased in equal proportion to the increased development of the system.

Japan received and sent international telegrams from the opening of the line between Tokyo and Nagasaki in 1873; but as the Administration of Telegraphs was not then connected with the International Telegraph Union, despatches beyond Nagasaki were confided to the agency of the Danish Great Northern Telegraph Company, and the treatment of international telegrams in Japan was regulated by the regulation governing interior service, except the arrangement as to charges made with that company. From 1878 international telegrams began to be treated in conformity to the disposition of the Telegraphic International Convention signed at St. Petersburg in 1875, and in 1879 Japan officially accepted that convention. Japanese delegates were for the first time sent to the International Conference in London in 1879. Since then Japan has been represented at the further conferences held successively at Berlin, Paris, and Budapest.

The establishment of the telephone system was early an object of consideration by the Government. While entirely recognising the utility of this new mode of communication, there was a hesitation in deciding whether the State ought to establish the telephone, or should leave the development of it to a private company. Nevertheless, as the telephone was an absolutely new matter, it was proposed to previously investigate it thoroughly. The Ministry of Communications seriously occupied itself with this preparatory study, and tried the manufacture of telephones. In 1890 the Government judged the moment favourable to put into practice these theoretical studies, and, recognising the advantages accruing from establishing the service itself, published the Telephone Regulations. Telephone services were first opened in Tokyo and Yokohama at the end of 1890, and in Osaka and Kobe in 1893. As in all new things, the public, not fully comprehending the real utility of this marvellous equipment, were not anxious to have it installed in their own houses; but after some years of work, the demands became so numerous that the Administration was obliged to obtain from the State a special fund to supply the public desire. In 1895 extensive developments were resolved upon. Apart from the fiscal year of 1896–97, not only were central telephone-offices established ​in all the commercially important cities, but communication between these various places was established. In February, 1899, the first long-distance line was opened between Tokyo and Osaka, a distance of 350 miles.

The central exchange and the public telephone-offices were under the control of the Ministry of Communications. In 1890—that is to say, in the first year of the opening of the service—there were central exchanges only in Tokyo and Yokohama, and there were only 16 public telephone-offices open for public use. In 1898–99 there were 16 exchanges and 46 public telephones. In the year 1890—the public not yet being fully alive to their advantages, and the system not being extensive—there were only 334 private subscribers; but at the end of the fiscal year 1898–99 there were 8,064 houses supplied with telephones. The demands increased so rapidly that some 6,915 applications were still waiting to be supplied. The development is shown from the fact that in 1890–91 there were 2 central exchanges, 16 public telephones, and 334 subscribers; and in 1898–99 there were 16 central exchanges, 46 public telephones, and 8,064 subscribers. In 1902–03 there were 318 public offices, and 111,597,714 messages sent.

Telephone-lines are constructed and maintained by the State. They are constructed to meet the increasing demands, but within the limits of the Budget. In the towns the extension of lines develops slowly in proportion to the increase of wires demanded. There are numerous posts charged with more than 300 wires. To avoid all danger, the Administration has begun to lay these underground.

Telephone communication can be held between subscribers, or subscribers and the public, or any two persons. In the first case subscribers pay no extra charge, as they pay a fixed annual rent. In the second case the public pay for each call a charge determined by the Administration. A subscriber pays an extra charge for long-distance calls.

Copper wire being universally recognised as the best transmitter, the Administration tried the manufacture of a hard copper wire, which when perfected was adopted. The great difficulty of putting extra wires on to already existing posts was overcome in 1891 by beginning to employ underground cables for the lines already too burdened with wires. Ordinarily wooden arms to the posts were employed for 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 wires, according to the number of subscribers; but these being felt insufficient, iron arms, supporting many wires, are being preferred.

Porcelain insulators made in Japan are used. There are three kinds of apparatus in use: Standard Telephone ​Switchboard, the Multiple Telephone Switchboard of the Western Electric Company, and Man’s Telephone Switchboard. These, with the exception of the second, are, with certain modifications, manufactured in Japan, and are better than those imported at first. The manufacture of telephones has had a rapid development, until to-day it has reached a fair perfection.