Abstract
THE last annual report of the Post Office was issued nearly twenty years ago. Since then, there have been many radical changes and important developments in the work of this Government department which are not yet well known. We there fore welcome “The Post Office, 1934” (London: G.P.O. Is.) which has just been published. In the preface the Postmaster-General reviews some of the developments, and he may indeed be proud of his department, which has kept well abreast of all the latest scientific advances. Owing to the competition of telephony, the traffic handled by the telegraph service shows a considerable falling off, but the rapid and revolutionary changes introduced are checking this decline. The teleprinter is now the standard machine in use in Britain; Morse signalling is rarely used. A motor-cycle service has quickened delivery, and incoming liners are met by telegraph representatives. As an experiment, boy messengers are attending a few of the main railway stations to accept telegrams from outgoing passengers. Up to twenty years ago, the telegraph was the only means of communication with foreign countries; now a telephone subscriber in Great Britain can com municate with 95 per cent of the telephone sub scribers of the world. Wonderful progress has been made with radio services. For broadcasting, un fortunately, the wave-length position in Europe is very difficult owing to the fact that there are far more broadcasting stations than there are wave lengths available for their use. Some countries were not satisfied with the allocation of wave-lengths made at the Lucerne Conference and are using waves contrary to the Lucerne plan.
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Activities of the Post Office. Nature 134, 659 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/134659b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/134659b0