[95] The increase in salaries and wages in 1880-81 to 1884-85 was $1,100,000, and the increase in the cost of maintenance was $538,000.
[96] Compare also Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates, June 6, 1887, p. 1,180, Mr. Shaw-Lefevre.
| Year | Number of Messages | Net Revenue, $ | Year | Number of Messages | Net Revenue, $ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1884-85 | 33,278,000 | 1,371,000 | 1894-95 | 71,589,000 | -50,000 | |
| 1885-86 | 39,146,000 | 839,000 | 1895-96 | 78,840,000 | 646,000 | |
| 1886-87 | 50,244,000 | 442,000 | 1896-97 | 79,423,000 | 678,000 | |
| 1887-88 | 53,403,000 | 614,000 | 1899-00 | 90,415,000 | 326,000 | |
| 1888-89 | 57,765,000 | 1,061,000 | 1901-02 | 90,432,000 | -848,000 | |
| 1889-90 | 62,403,000 | 1,451,000 | 1902-03 | 92,471,000 | -548,000 | |
| 1890-91 | 66,409,000 | 1,259,000 | 1903-04 | 89,997,000 | -1,530,000 | |
| 1891-92 | 69,685,000 | 922,000 | 1904-05 | 88,969,000 | -917,000 | |
| 1892-93 | 69,908,000 | 94,000 | 1905-06 | 89,478,000 | -63,500 | |
| The minus sign denotes an excess of operating expenses over receipts. | ||||||
CHAPTER VIII
The State Telegraphs Subsidize the Newspaper Press
Why the newspaper press demanded nationalization. Mr. Scudamore gives the newspaper press a tariff which he deems unprofitable. Estimates of the loss involved in transmitting press messages, made by responsible persons in the period from 1876 to 1900. The State telegraphs subsidize betting on horse races.
Before proceeding with the further discussion of the intervention of the House of Commons in the details of the administration of the State telegraphs, it is necessary to review briefly the tariff on messages for the newspaper press.
Before the telegraphs had been acquired by the State, the telegraph companies maintained a press bureau which supplied the newspapers with reports of the debates in Parliament, foreign news, general news, a certain amount of London financial and commercial intelligence, and the more important sporting news. While Parliament was in session, the messages in question averaged about 6,000 words a day; during the remainder of the year they averaged about 4,000 words daily. The annual subscription charges for the aforesaid services ranged from $750 to $1,250. Before the Select Committee of 1868, the representatives of the newspapers asserted that those subscription charges yielded the telegraph companies, on an average, 8 cents per 100 words. They further asserted that the telegraph companies ascribed 62.5 per cent. of the cost of the press bureau to the transmission of the news; and 37.5 per cent. to the collecting and editing of the news.[98] But neither the representatives of the press, nor the Select Committee itself, called any representatives of the telegraph companies to testify upon these latter points.