E.—No. 8.

6

TELEGRAPH REGULATIONS.

The rule is to leave the line for the prior telegram. 20. In cases of press of business or delay, or when the lines are working badly, or when there is no chance of giving a distant Station communication by translating without causing considerable delay, officers are bound to transmit all telegrams so presented, bearing a delay of 30 minutes. 21. No officer is allowed to disconnect the wires or to change the connections at the testing boards of any of the Stations without a direct order from the Telegraphic Engineer, the Electrician, or their representative, except under the following circumstances. 22. When communication is totally interrupted with tho Chief Station the officer in charge during the time of the interruption shall use his utmost endeavours to keep open communication with as many of tho Stations as possible consistent with fair working. 23. In the case of an interruption occurring on the line, the officer in charge of a Station shall ascertain whether the fault is on one side of the Station only, and if so, on which side the fault shall have occurred. 24. If the Station be Timaru for example let the officer put earth on the Dunedin side of the line at the testing board and call Ch Ch, for a period of not longer than ten minutes ; should no answer be obtained, let him then remove the earth wire, join up the Dunedin wire again to the instrument, and place the earth wire on the Christchurch side of the line, and call D. N. or 0. U. 25. Should he be able to communicate with Dunedin, he will ascertain whether that Station is in communication with the Chief Station, and if not he shall immediately forward an L. T. telegram to the Telegraphic Engineer, Electrician, and General Manager, advising them of the interruption, and he shall forward all telegrams for the Northern Station via Dunedin, till the fault of the North portion of the line shall have been removed. 26. When communication is totally interrupted between two Stations, the officers in charge of those Stations shall call each other, at intervals of not longer than one hour during the appointed timo for business, so long as the interruption shall continue. This rule must be strictly adhered to in order to prevent delay, so soon as any repairs on the lino may be effected. 27. When a Station has been calling another for more than fifteen minutes without obtaining a reply, the officer in charge shall carry out instructions contained in Eules twenty-four (24) and twenty-five (25) Schedule B. of these rules and regulations. Should the delay have occurred through the carelessness or negligence of another Station, tho circumstances of the case must be immediately entered in the diary, and a report, stating when the delay commenced and terminated, shall be forwarded to the General Manager and Electrician. '28. Should any Station interfere with the communication of the lino by holding down tho instrument key, disconnecting or changing tho Station wires, putting on earth, or otherwise interrupt the working of the line, the full circumstances of the case are to be entered in the diary, and a report sent as early as possible to the Electrician and General Manager.. 29. In calling a Station the following course must be strictly adhered to :— First: Give the call signal . —. —. —. —. —. —. —. Secondly : Give the Station call three times. Thirdly': Give the letter F, meaning from. Fourthly : Give your own Station call. Let this be continued till an answer is received from the Station called. Thus, supposing Dunedin be calling Lyttelton, first give the call signal as above, throe times. Then send L.N., L.N., f., D.N., until L.N. answers by replying L.N., " here." 30. Should a Station be engaged when another Station is calling, let the officer in charge embrace the earliest opportunity of answering and giving the signal "Wait" . —■.... —... together with the number of minutes his Station is likely to be engaged. 31. Should a Station continue calling, after having received the signal " Wait," let the officer in charge of the Station called conclude at once that the calling Station has an Urgent Telegram, and let him as speedily as possible give " Wait" to any other Station he may be engaged with, and place himself in communication with the Station continuing to call. Should this latter Station have continued calling without necessity, after having received the signal " Wait," and so have interfered with the working of another Station unnecessarily, let the full particulars of the case be entered in the diary, and a report be forwarded to the General Manager as early as possible. 32. When a Station has received tho signal " Wait," the officers of that Station should not continue calling unless they have telegrams bearing the codes of L. T. or U. T. ; and if, having given their code, they still get "Wait," they must remain without further calling till the other Station announces its readiness to take tho preferred telegram. Should any unreasonable delay occur on the part of the other Station, the full particulars of the case must be entered in the diary, and a report forwarded to the General Manager as early as possible. 33. No abbreviations are on any account to be used in the transmission of telegrams, as abbreviations are frequently the cause of errors. 34. Casual cyphers, proper names, and doubtful words occurring in ordinary telegrams, must bo repeated back by the receiver when acknowledging the receipt of such telegrams. Take the following case as an example : — Nat. Smith, Dunedin— Buy 2000 bushels oats, 75., gunnies, wanted. Eobt. Jones. This telegram should be acknowledged thus : — No. 19, Nat., 2000, 7s. gunnies, Eob ...—.... —. This rule must be rigidly enforced. Eeceiving or Counter Clerks should recommend the senders of telegrams to pay for repetition when many figures or cyphers occur in a telegram to insure accuracy.