tion, 250 megohms. Mr. Clouth has recently supplied several cables of this nature for use under the streets of Cologne, which are stated to show a capacity of only 075 mf. per kilometer, although the wires are wrapped in tin-foil. The foil is the thinnest procurable. The results are said to be excellent. There is no overhearing between wire and wire, and a distance of sixty kilometers is said to have been spoken over. This cable contains fifty-six conductors of a resistance of 21.5 ohms per kilometer. Messrs. Felten & Guilleaume's cable of this type has generally four uninsulated wires strung through it (fig. 76) for the purpose of connecting the tin-foil to earth. This latter firm has also supplied the German Government with cable of the kind illustrated in

fig. 77, which is a compromise between the anti-induction single wire and metallic circuit classes. Each insulated conductor is wrapped in tin-foil, and four such conductors are twisted round an uninsulated copper wire, which is earthed when the cable is used for single wires. When metallic circuits are required the opposite wires of the same group are looped. Cables for the German Government are generally sheathed in flat iron wires or some other form of armouring.

OUTSIDE WORK (TRUNK)

There is little calling for remark about the trunk line work. The wire used is generally 3 mm. copper, but for the long lines, like the Berlin-Cologne, Berlin-Munich, Berlin-Vienna, and

Berlin-Memel, the gauge is 4 and 45 mm.

The insulators are

large double-shed of white porcelain of German manufacture. The trunks generally follow the railways and are supported on ordinary wooden poles, the wires being crossed at intervals.

STATISTICS

The union of the telephone with the telegraph is so intimate in Germany that no separate account is kept, or at least published, of the exclusively telephonic receipts and working expenses. is consequently impossible to know whether the system is remunerative or the reverse.

December 31, 1893, is the date of the following—the latest figures relating to lines, instruments, and volume of traffic.

At the end of 1894 the exchange instruments working in the chief towns numbered approximately :

X. GREECE

To date of writing (March 1895) no telephone exchange has been opened for public use in Greece, but a small one exists for police purposes only between Athens and the Piræus. A law was,

however, passed in 1893 reserving the establishment of a public exchange in Athens and the Piræus to the State, but authorising the granting of concessions for the other towns to individuals or private companies.

XI. HOLLAND

HISTORY AND PRESENT POSITION

TELEPHONICALLY, as in other respects, Holland is one of the most interesting countries on the Continent. The industry and the proverbial ability of the Dutch to adapt means to ends have resulted in the telephone being brought, and that without State intervention, within the reach of all, for surely that point has been nearly approached when annual subscriptions have been reduced as low as 27. 95. 7d., including the supply and maintenance of wires, apparatus, and all expenses. For a parallel it is necessary to go to Scandinavia, and it is worthy of remark that the lowest rates are everywhere associated with companies, not with Government administrations. The sole exception is the case of Switzerland, but in that instance the rates are low only for those who use their telephones but little for the busy firms the d. per call mounts up during the year to a total that exceeds anything known in Holland or Scandinavia. That is, of course, as it should be ; the important firms paying, as they can well afford to do, in proportion to their actual needs. When an all-round rate exists the poorer folk are really taxed for the benefit of their richer brethren, and such a rate possesses no other merit than convenience.

The Dutch Government, until the advent of the era of trunk lines, did not attempt to participate at all in the telephonic game. It granted concessions to companies and, in some instances, to private firms and even individuals, for definite towns and districts, within which they were secured from competition. The International Bell Telephone Company obtained Amsterdam, which it subsequently handed over to a local association, the Nether

lands Bell Telephone Company, to which fifteen of the other chief towns have since been conceded. Messrs. Ribbink, van Bork & Co., manufacturing electricians of Breda and Amsterdam, hold and work concessions for eleven of the smaller towns, the exchanges in which, under the fostering influence of a 27. 175. 10d. rate, have obtained respectable proportions. The historic town of Zutphen, population 17,004, has a model exchange of 141 instruments on the same subscription. Maastricht is worked by the Maastricht Telephone Company, also on 27. 175. 1od. Nijmegen, which, with a population of 34,128 and a 27. 175. 10d. rate, has 450 subscribers, belongs to Mr. J. W. Kaijser. Alkmaar and Helder are in the hands of Mynheer Jan Sōt, who carries off the palm for low subscriptions with 27. 95. 7d. per annum, everything included. It is perhaps superfluous to remark that Mynheer Jan Sōt possesses none of those autocratic powers in respect to way-leaves which apologists in this country have so liberally, if gratuitously, endowed foreign telephonists generally by way of accounting for the low rates on which they are able to

live and thrive.

The concessionaries have to obtain licences both from the State and the local authorities, power being reserved to the State to revoke its grant at any time. The municipal licences are for from fifteen to twenty-five years. The concessionaries' tenure is therefore somewhat uncertain, but so far the State has not intervened anywhere. No royalty is payable to the Government unless a subscriber's line exceeds five kilometers in length. It is then deemed to partake of the nature of a trunk line, and the State makes an annual charge of 17. 135. for the sixth and 16s. 6d. for each additional kilometer. The municipalities generally stipulate for a few free connections in return for their licence (which, however, usually carries with it valuable way-leave privileges); the Town Council of Amsterdam alone exacts a money payment, and this is no less than 27. 15. 9d. per annum on every primary subscription of 97. 14s. 2d. obtained by the company in Amsterdam. If a subscriber for any reason pays more than the unit rate, the company keeps the whole of the excess. In addition, the company. has to give the Amsterdam Corporation no less than thirty-one free connections and a