Mr. Purkis was a citizen of the highest type, always eager for the welfare of the town and its inhabitants.
Personally, he was of a most genial and kindly disposition, a true and sincere friend to all who shared his confidence.
He passed away recently at his home at Prescott after a brief illness, in his 78th year.
Submarine Telegraphy.
When the electric telegraph had been successfully established in Great Britain, the public soon became alive to the necessity of extending its operations beyond the confines of the United Kingdom.
As early as 1840 Professor Charles Wheatstone, of England, suggested the practicability of connecting Dover and Calais, in France, by an electric wire, but it was ten years later before a submarine line was laid. This first attempt proved a failure, owing to the wires being imperfectly insulated.
In 1851 a second cable, containing four copper wires insulated with gutta percha and surrounded by tarred hemp and protected by ten galvanized iron wires wound round spirally, was laid connecting England and France. This proved successful. All submarine cables thereafter were made on this pattern.
It was now evident that the sea offered no barrier to international telegraphic communication.