104
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

whether the fault is on one side of the Station only,
and if so, on which side the fault shall have occurred.
23. 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 O.U.
24. Should he be able to communicate with Dun-
edin, he will ascertain whether that Station is in com-
munication with the Chief Station, and if not he shall
immediately forward an L. T. telegram to the Tele-
graphic Engineer, Electrician, and General Manager,
advising them of the interruption, and he shall for-
ward all telegrams for the Northern Stations via
Dunedin, till the fault on the North portion of the
line shall have been removed.
25. 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 time 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 line may
be effected.
26. When a Station has been calling another for
more than fifteen minutes without obtaining a reply,
the officer in charge shall carry out instructions con-
tained in Rules twenty-three (23) and twenty-four
(24) of these rules and instructions.
Should the delay have occurred through the care-
lessness or negligence of another Station, the circum-
stances of the case must be immediately entered in
the diary, and a report, stating when the delay com-
menced and terminated, shall be forwarded to the
General Manager and Electrician.
27. Should any Station interfere with the commu-
nication of the line by holding down the instrument
key, disconnecting or changing the 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.
28. 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, suppose Dunedin be calling Lyttelton, first
give the call signal, as above, three times. Then send
L.N., L.N., L.N., f., D.N., until L.N. answers by
replying L.N., "here."
29. 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.
30. 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 com-
munication 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.
31. When a Station has received the signal
"Wait," the officers of that Station should not
continue calling unless they have telegrams bearing
the codes L.T., U.T., or G.T.; and if having given
their code, they still get "Wait," they must remain
without further calling till the other Station an-
nounces its readiness to take the proferred 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.
32. No abbreviations are on any account to be
used in the transmission of telegrams, as abbrevia-
tions are frequently the causes of errors.
33. Casual cyphers, proper names, and doubtful
words occurring in ordinary telegrams, must be
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, 7s., gunnies, wanted.
Rob. Jones.
This telegram should be acknowledged thus:
No. 19, Nat., 2000, 7s. gunnies, Rob....-
This rule must be rigidly enforced.
Receiving 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.
34. All Government telegrams written in cypher
must be repeated back from the Receiving Station to
insure accuracy in transmission.
This rule admits of no exception.
35. When several telegrams are presented for
transmission about the same time, and any of these
telegrams shall be of considerable length, then shall
no officer be bound to send more than two hundred
words of any telegram at one time.
In carrying out this rule great judgment must be
used by officers in charge whose object will be to
cause as little delay as possible to Press telegrams
consistently with fairness to the commercial public
and others using the telegraph.
See precautionary measures at end of list of codes,
in rule 17.
Equal justice is to be done to all members of the
Press by transmitting fairly and equally the two
hundred words prescribed by the regulations and
conditions where such restriction is necessary, or an
equal number of more than two hundred words as
circumstances will permit in accordance with pre-
cautionary measures laid down in rule 17.

Instructions for Receiving Clerks.

36. Telegrams must be written in a clear and
    legible manner in ink or some indelible matter but
    not in lead pencil, they must bear an intelligible and
    proper address and must be signed by the sender.
    No abbreviations must be allowed in writing tele-
    grams.
37. Special instructions as to the delivery of tele-
    grams whether by man and horse, by cab, omnibus,
    or by post, should be distinctly written on the back
    of the telegram form together with the amount
    charged for such delivery, and the whole signed by
    the person presenting the telegram for transmission.
38. The amount paid for the transmission and
    delivery of any telegram shall be written on the face
    of each telegram, in the proper place printed for that
    purpose on each telegram form, and the clerk receiv-
    ing such money shall affix his initials to the sum to
    show that he was the receiver of such telegram.
39. Any officer or servant receiving a telegram
    shall give a receipt according to an authorized form
    for all charges made and shall sign the same in full
    and give the date on which such moneys specified
    therein were received.