1869 6,500,000 (estimated) 1870-71 9,850,000 1871-72 12,474,000 1874-75 19,253,000 1879-80 26,547,000 1884-85 33,278,000 1889-90 62,403,000 1894-95 71,589,000 1899-1900 90,415,000 1905-1906 89,478,000 In 1869 Mr. Scudamore revised his estimate of the number of messages in 1870-71, reducing it to 8,815,400. _Hansard's Parliamentary Debates_, July 5, 1869, p. 1,219, the Marquis of Hartington, Postmaster General. [60] Garcke: _Manual of Electrical Undertakings_. The current issues report the amount of these royalties. _The Report of the Postmaster General_, 1885, p. 9, and _Parliamentary Paper_, No. 34, Session of 1901, state that these royalties are included in the gross revenue of the telegraphs. [61] _Report of a Committee appointed by the Treasury to investigate the causes of the increased Cost of the Telegraphic Service since the Acquisition of the Telegraphs by the State_, 1875, p. 6. [62] _Parliamentary Paper_, No. 295, Session of 1902. Proportion borne by operating expenses to gross revenue, after excluding from operating expenses all expenses properly chargeable to capital account. The capital account of the telegraphs having been closed in September, 1873, the Post Office, since that date, has charged to operating expenses all expenditures on account of extensions, the purchase of sites, and the erection of buildings. Average percentage of operating expenses Range 1870-71 57.24 1871-72 78.94 1872-73 to 1874-75 88.77 85.13 to 92.40 1875-76 to 1884-85 79.34 72.27 to 85.50 1885-86 to 1891-92 91.31 87.72 to 95.30 1892-93 to 1900-01 98.30 95.43 to 101.07 1901-02 to 1905-06 100.38 99.69 to 108.06 _Parliamentary Paper_, No. 34, Session of 1876. Lord John Manners, Postmaster General: "In the first two years after the transfer the expenditure was kept down, because no charge was raised for maintenance, as it took the form of renewal of the plant of the late companies, which, between 1868 and 1870, had, in some instances, been allowed to fall into decay, and was therefore considered properly chargeable against capital." [63] That sum was made up as follows: Telegraph companies $29,237,000 Railway companies 10,000,000 Extensions: 1870 to 1873 11,041,000 Extensions: 1874 to 1906 34,534,000 ----------- $84,812,000 [64] _Parliamentary Paper_, No. 267, Session of 1870.