Telegrapy In Japan

The Japanese telegraph nel wmon was eommcnced in 1871, embraced at the of lust year S.329 miles ot raad, and 9,345 miles-of wire. The total number of telegrama forwarded durino- the year amounted to 1,272,706, ot which 9(5 per cent. were written m the Japaaese tougue. Japanese havingno ilphabct of individual lettere, it has been neeessary for telegraphic purposes to make up combinations of Morse charaeters representing the sounds of each of the syllables contained in the so-oiilled Katakana. For this purpose letters of the international code hare bóeí j used, ;uiil been supplemented by others made up oí fine dota and strokes, which ] represent a tote] of 47 signa, minus the figures. The alphabet that had been formed in that way answered well enough for about eight years. The young Japanese operators, who are now taken from a school of teleffraphy, are taught to speak and write English and French. and generally receive a primal y education similar to that, given in land. The average charge for the conreyance of 20 Japanesc characters over a distance of 60 miles in somewhat less than 2 cents. In 1880 there were open to the public 112 offices, besides which there were 70 in connection with the varióos departments of the state, the raihvays and the pólice stations. There are now in use 343 Morse apparatus, 26 Block instrumenta with 1 needie, and 29 telephones on the Bell System. In the ! school of telegrwphy there are 71 instrumenta of various descriptions for practising purposes, and in the Straks of Shinionoseki ö cables have been laid.