574 P O S T-O F F I C E [TELEGRAPHS. and extends to every county of the kingdom. The aggregate sum due to depositors throughout Ireland in 1873 was 845,550; in 1878 it was 1,325,806, and in 1882 1,925,460, in addition to 125,000 of Government stock standing to the credit of depositors, or, in the whole, 2,050,460. Of the 638 trustee savings banks which existed in the United Kingdom at the date of the establishment of the post-office system 230 have been closed. Fifteen new trustee banks have been opened ; so that the number now existing is 423, as compared with 7475 post- office savings banks. Annul- Under the Act 45 and 46 Viet. c. 51 (1882) the postmaster- ties and general will insure the lives of persons of either sex between the life in- ages of fourteen and sixty-five, inclusive, for any sum not less than surances. 5 or more than 100 ; but where the amount does not exceed 5 the earlier limit of age is eight years. An annuity, immediate or deferred, for any sum not less than 1 or not more than 100 will be granted by the postmaster-general, under the same Act, to any Early pro posals. person not under five years of age. The transactions take place through the medium of the savings bank departments. Husband and wife may each purchase an annuity up to the maximum amount, and each may be insured up to the full amount of 100. Condi tions of contract in the case of annuities depend upon the age and sex of the purchaser, together with, where the annuity is deferred, the number of years which are to elapse before the commencement of the annuity ; they also vary according as the purchase money is to be returned or not. The premiums charged for insurances vary with the age of the insurer and the mode in which the insur ance is effected. The insurer, if not under sixteen years of age, enjoys the right of nominating the person to whom the money due at his or her death is to be paid. The contracts for annuities and life insurances in connexion with the savings bank branch of the post-office began on 17th April 1865. The following table (XIV.) shows the amount of business done in different periods down to the year 1883 : ANNUITIES. LIFE INSURANCES. Immediate. Deferred. Contracts entered into. Re ceipts. Payments. Contracts entered into. Receipts. Payments. 1 Fees. 2 entered into. t Receipts. Payments. 1 >> - tr O X
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3 S"S tT No. || 3 "3 c No. || No "S3 c c 3 3 g No. |S^|g No. a c s c No. | No. C 3 No. 1 =^1 O e c ~ g
S^~!^ Sr O^PH 2 Eg = 43 - 4-4
S< HH O M <(Xi ! fioo 1865 87 2,100 22,738 32 423 45 949 67 1342 139 547 40,647 1,076 1,165 18703 306 6,120 67,738 2,529 26,099 57 1195 514 3529 9 346 347 385 31,254 9,274 5,877 39 1676 1875 582 7,926 85,781 11,129 63,641 34 768 661 3543 10 526 421 370 32,022 14,549 9,500 84 3127 1880 892 13,249 146,562 14,933 101,734 41 847 621 4400 119 1570 695 258 20,378 15,379 10,506 1-J5 3S86 18S1 956 16,434 184,737 15,808 121,111 66 1376 686 5243 131 1763 873 300 23,900 15,883 10,907 114 3675 1882 799 13,435 155,528 16,729 122,123 72 1502 772 6449 156 2327 727 234 18,447 16,039 11,009 141 5694 1883 770 ! 14,141 159,630 17,302 130,053 104 2120 830 7240 163 1898 790 256 20,000 16,156 11,333 129 5431 Postal Telegraphs. To the chamber of commerce of Edinburgh belongs the honour of effectually originating that public demand for the transfer of the telegraphic service of the United King dom from commercial companies to the state which led to the passing of the Acts of Parliament of 1868 and 1869. There had, indeed, been several like proposals by indi viduals in preceding years. Mr Thomas Allan proposed such a transfer in 1854. Two years later the scheme was advocated by Mr Baines of the general post-office, and afterwards by Mr Ricardo. But these proposals had no practical effect until after the action taken at Edinburgh, mainly at the instance of Mr (now Sir) George Harrison, convener of the chamber. The committee of inquiry then appointed showed conclusively that the telegraphic service, as managed by the companies, (1) maintained excessive charges, (2) occasioned frequent and vexatious delays in the transmission of messages, and inaccuracies in the rendering of them, (3) left a large number of important towns and districts wholly unprovided for, and (4) placed special difficulties in the way of that newspaper press which had, in the interest of the public, a claim so just and so obvious to special facilities. The committee also proved that, great as were the just causes of public com plaint at the date of its inquiry, they would have been greater still but for a considerable reduction of charge effected by, and in consequence of, the establishment in 1861 of the United Kingdom Company, a company opposed by a formidable combination of its competitors, which forced it to abandon the uniform shilling rate, irre spective of distance, with which it started. 4 The Edin burgh chamber was unanimous in supporting the plan of a uniform sixpenny rate, and that proposal was speedily 1 Prior to the year 1875 the payments consisted of purchase money returned only, no annuities being payable till after the lapse of ten years. 3 On immediate and deferred annuity contracts, the charges on monthly allowances being included in the premium. 3 Claims on surrender value of life insurance contracts commenced in this year. 4 Papers on Electric Telegraphs, 1868, pp. 53, 55, 202 sq. endorsed by the other chambers of commerce throughout the kingdom. When the inquiry of 1865 was instituted the total number of places supplied with telegraphic com munication by all the companies collectively was about 1000, whereas the number of places having postal com munication at the same date was 10,685. The telegraph offices were placed most inconveniently for the service of the population generally, and especially for that of the suburbs of large towns ; and under the then existing telegraphic tariff the charge in Great Britain was a shilling for a twenty-word message over distances not exceeding 100 miles; Is. 6d. for a like message over distances from 100 to 200 miles; 2s. when exceeding 200 miles. For a message between Great Britain and Ireland the charge ranged from 3s. to 6s. ; to Jersey or Guernsey it was 7s. 8d. There were also innumerable extra charges, under con tingent regulations of great complexity, which commonly added 50 per cent, to the primary charge, and frequently doubled it. The Edinburgh committee considered in turn the re spective merits of three several remedial measures : (1) a regulated amalgamation of the existing companies ; (2) the establishment of entire free-trade in public telegraphy ; (3) the transfer of the service to the post-office. It tended towards a preference of the last, but agreed to recom mend the appointment of a royal commission of inquiry prior to legislation. In the result the needful preliminary inquiries, and also the preparation of the Bills for parlia ment to which those inquiries led, came to be made by the direct authority of the postmaster-general, and were mainly entrusted to Mr Frank Ives Scudamore, second secretary of the post-office. The Electric Telegraph Act of 1868 (31 and 32 Viet. Electr c. 110) authorized the postmaster-general, with consent of Tele j the treasury, to purchase for the purposes of the Act the ^ ^ ( whole, or such parts as he should think fit, of any existing ig68- telegraphic company, " provided always that no such pur chase be made . . . until the proposed agreement, and a treasury minute thereupon, shall have lain for one month upon the table of both Houses of Parliament without dis
approval." The Bill in its original form gave to the