Mr. Scudamorg has presented his report on the permanent establishment
of State telegraphs, the main facts of which appear to be these. The telegraphs, even at the monstrous price paid for them, return 3j- per cent., and £350,000 over in relief of taxation, and save the country besides £400,000 a year in the cost of telegrams. They may yield immensely more, he thinks, if the uniform rate is reduced to sixpence ; and the only objec- tion to that reduction is that it would be too successful, and overwhelm the existing machinery with work. The experiment, in fact, has been such a success, that a sanguine man looking forward to the absorption of the Railways and Life Assurance business by the State might dream of the day when government itself should be conducted at a profit, and speculate bow Irish Members were to be kept from wanting all the surplus. Much of this success is due, as all the world knows, to Mr. Scndamore himself ; and we do trust the department, which has stinginess for its one defect, will remember that half his energy on behalf of any other employer would have given him at all events a traffic man- ager's salary, say £3,000 a year.
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