The department, in deciding on taking this simultaneous step at a certain hour on one day, had made what preparations were possible at so short a notice; but, as was only to be expected, the public service suffered accordingly for many days to come. Men with a knowledge of telegraphy were not so easy to obtain, as those who knew their work were appraised by the remaining companies at a somewhat higher value than the Government chose to put upon them. Consequently the men who were engaged to fill the places of those dismissed constituted a various and motley crowd for the most part, and in some cases actually had to learn their work as they went along. The natural result of so many immature telegraphists being put to the work was a complete wrecking of telegraphic communication for days afterwards. The men who were recruited from London principally were, however, little to blame, either for the breakdown in the service or for the part they were made to play. For the most part they were complete strangers to each other; men picked up from almost every walk in life; many of them had known privation, and were glad of a berth under any conditions. It was therefore not greatly surprising that they knew as little of _esprit de corps_ as they knew of telegraphy when first engaged. What had really happened in London when the Postmaster-General and his advisers decided on a preconcerted signal to the postmasters of the provincial towns, was this: The class of pseudo-telegraphists already described, having been engaged some weeks before and put through a painful course of self-tuition, were at the end of that time regarded as having matriculated sufficiently for the purpose for which they were principally wanted. Then they were each in turn asked if they would care to be transferred to some provincial town, Liverpool, Manchester, or wherever it might be. All objections and demurs if any were immediately met by the offer to pay all expenses. One at a time they were called into a room at the Chief Office in Telegraph Street, and told to prepare at a few hours’ notice to be sent where their services were most required. The question of railway fares, and wives and children, and removal of home belongings was peremptorily brushed aside. They had only to name an approximate amount as covering all expenses, and, to their pleased astonishment, that sum was placed before them. The Controller’s clerk was a few feet away presiding over an open box of gold, and on each of these poor seedy fellows being asked to name his amount, it was given him with no more trouble than obtaining his signature. It is not to be wondered at that the men were so easily tempted. If they were guilty of what in trade-union parlance is known as “blacklegging,” then their offence was a venial one, inasmuch as they were not in a position to realise to the full what was being enacted.