[65] The subjoined table gives, for successive periods, the average capital sums upon which the net revenue earned by the telegraphs would have paid the interest; and also the average sums actually invested in the telegraphs in those periods. The first column of the table is constructed on the assumption that the interest paid by the State for borrowed money was 3.25 per cent. from 1870-71 to 1883-84; 3 per cent. from 1884-85 to 1888-89; and 2.75 per cent. from 1889-90 to 1900-01. The ten million dollars paid to the railway companies some time between 1873 and 1879 are not included in the sum put down for the average capital investment in 1875-76 to 1877-78, since it has been impossible to assign that payment to specific years. The results of the year 1870-71 should be ignored, since the cost of the maintenance of the telegraphs was charged to capital account in the year in question. The net revenue The average sufficed to pay capital actually interest on: invested was: $ $ 1870-71 52,710,500 33,790,000 1871-72 to 1874-75 20,090,000 40,045,000 1875-76 to 1877-78 31,305,000 41,715,000 1878-79 to 1884-85 52,785,000 54,510,000 1885-86 to 1888-89 24,646,000 60,545,000 1889-90 to 1891-92 44,033,000 63,446,000 1892-93 to 1905-06 Nil 74,243,000 [66] The net revenue sufficed to pay the interest on: $ 1877-78 30,165,000 1878-79 41,190,000 1879-80 51,310,000 1880-81 69,455,000 1881-82 55,055,000 1886-87 14,745,000 [67] _Special Report from the Select Committee on the Electric Telegraphs Bill_, 1868; q. 3,296 to 3,302. [68] _The Fortnightly Review_, December, 1875. [69] _Report of the Postmaster General_ for 1895; Historical Outline of the Telegraph Service since 1870. CHAPTER VI THE PARTY LEADERS IGNORE THEIR FEAR OF AN ORGANIZED CIVIL SERVICE Mr. Disraeli, Chancellor of the Exchequer, opposes the enfranchisement of the civil servants. Mr. Gladstone, Leader of the Opposition, assents to enfranchisement, but expresses grave apprehensions of evil results.