Formas de hallar el punto de equilibrio

Sing a song of saving A pocketful of tin, Telegrams for sixpence A surplus will bring in.

When the cover‟s opened We feel inclined to sing:

“It‟s all abbreviations, We can‟t make out a thing.”⁷

New Zealand‟s first newspaper editors relied heavily on English newspapers for their content, which in turn meant a reliance on ships. Content, was in general, at least four months „old‟ at the time it was read by New Zealanders. Amongst regular stories published from 1840 were reports of the new electric telegraph. Curious readers marvelled at the phenomenal speed information flowed. An 1843 article claimed

that the speed is about 120,000 miles per second; that, therefore, a message could go to Bristol or Birmingham in 1-1400^th of a second, or round the globe, if wires could be laid for its travelling upon, in one-sixth of a second. The messages upon the Blackwall Railway, upon part of the Great Western Railway, and some other railways are carried at this extraordinary rate. The bells in the House of Commons are rung by it, and its uses are extending.⁸ In 1846, another article noted, “It is estimated that when the Electric Telegraph is fixed between London and Liverpool, a communication backwards and forwards, may

6 E. Pawson, pp. 278-287. W. Orchiston, Nautical Astronomy. J.S. Gross, „Keeping Time in Nineteenth Century New Zealand‟, MA Thesis (Auckland, University of Auckland, 2003). S.F. Biswell & R.

Nester, „Time‟, in NZG, no. 88 (Nov./Dec. 2007), pp. 60-69. J. Hearnshaw, „New Zealand Astronomy:

the Past, the Present and the Future‟, in RSNZ (2004). J.O.C. Phillips, (S. Nathan and M. Varnham, eds.), „Forecasting the Weather and Telling the Time‟, in The Amazing World of James Hector (Wellington, 2008), pp. 87-93. R. Palenski, pp. 37-47.

7 „Parodies of Nursery Rhymes‟, in Star, no. 5518 (16 Jan. 1886), p. 3.

8 DSC, vol. 1, no. 33 (2 Dec. 1843), p. 4.

be made in three minutes.”⁹ By 1848, another article stated that transmission had increased to “the lightning-speed of 288,000 miles in a second of time!”¹⁰ In April 1848, a further article reported that the creation of the telegraphic network in England made it possible for a “Common Time Throughout England” to be adopted from 1 December 1847:

On this occasion, by order of the Directors of the London and North-Western, with the concurrence, it is understood, of the Railway Commissioners and the Post-office authorities, the clocks at every station on the London and North-Western, the Midland, Birmingham, and Gloucester, and other lines were set to Greenwich time… between 200 and 300 [stations, in] all the principal towns and cities between London, Carlisle and London and York.¹¹

New Zealanders and people in the other Australasian colonies questioned why they couldn‟t have a similarly efficient system.

On 24 July 1858, the General Telegraph Superintendent for Victoria, Australia S.B. McCowan wrote a report proposing the linking of Australia to New Zealand by

„electric cable.‟ His desire for a terminus to be located in the Cook‟s Strait area stimulated inter-provincial debate, but a location could not be agreed upon and the scheme collapsed.¹² Also in 1858, and within New Zealand, two early editors of the Lyttelton Times, William Reeves (father of William Pember Reeves) and Crosbie Ward, became strong advocates for the introduction of the telegraph. The Lyttelton Times was then Canterbury‟s leading provincial newspaper and it required a continuous flow of up-to-date information from Christchurch and other centres as well as passing on shipping and other local news back over the Port Hills. Petitions and badgering achieved success with the formal opening of the Lyttelton to Christchurch telegraph line over the Port Hills on 1 July 1862. Canterbury was the telegraph‟s pioneer in New Zealand.¹³

9 NZSandCSG, vol. III, no. 123 (3 Oct. 1846), p. 3.

10 NZer, vol. 3, no. 179 (16 Feb. 1848), p. 3.

11 NZSandCSG, vol. IV, no. 287 (29 April 1848), p. 3.

12 A.C. Wilson, Wire and Wireless: A History of Telecommunications in New Zealand, 1860-1987 (Palmerston North, 1994), p. 25.

13 H. Robinson, A History of the Post Office in New Zealand (Wellington, 1964), pp. 142-153, for detail.

Canterbury‟s success was a catalyst for other provinces, particularly Auckland, which began construction of a line to Drury in February 1863. Then in January 1863 Alfred Sheath, for his part in the success of the Christchurch-Lyttelton line, was appointed Telegraphic Engineer for the central government. His task of advising provincial governments on the best locations for telegraph lines and supervising their construction proved most difficult. Administrative, financial and political problems as well as personality clashes all had to be overcome as telegraph lines were erected the length and breadth of the South Island. On 27 July 1866 an attempt was made to cross the telegraphic barrier represented by Cook Strait. The line was laid out from Lyall Bay in the north to Oyster Cove in White‟s Bay in the south.

Unfortunately the cable fouled, machinery failed and the cable snapped. On 26 August 1866 a second and successful attempt was made. (See Fig. 5.1).¹⁴ The thirty-two telegraph offices in the South Island, see Table 5.1, were now connected to the Lyall Bay telegraph office in the North Island. However, it was not until the following year that the three Wellington region telegraph offices were connected to the South Island.

14 Ibid., pp. 150-1.

Table 5.1. Telegraph Offices connected to Wellington, January 1868, listing year of

Figure 5.1. The telegraphic link between the North Island and the South Island established on 26 August 1866.¹⁶

The Central Government recognised the financial gains to be earned from the new technology and in 1867 instructed Sheath to purchase all the South Island‟s private lines. Wellington was then linked directly to Bluff. However, the Central Government had overcommitted itself financially, and supply problems resulted.

Sheath lost the support of his superiors, was judged as insubordinate and inefficient, and demoted.¹⁷ In May 1867, Charles Lemon was appointed to the position of Director of Telegraphs.¹⁸

16 Robinson, p. 151. Telecom NZ Archives for chart. Extraneous detail has been removed.

17 Ibid., p. 150. In March 1868 he was transferred to Auckland as District Inspector. He married Stephen Carkeek‟s daughter.

18 Wilson, pp. 20-40, for telegraphic history detail. See pp. 39-41 for Charles Lemon detail. See also WCT, no. 122 (7 Feb. 1866), p. 2, for details of early telegraph problems.