To Russia from 9_d._ to 6-1/2_d._ a word. Spain 6_d._ 4-1/2_d._ Italy 5_d._ 4-1/2_d._ India 4_s._7_d._ 4_s._ to be followed six years later by still greater reductions:-- To Austria from 4-1/2_d._ to 3_d._ a word. Hungary 4-1/2_d._ 3_d._ Italy 4-1/2_d._ 3_d._ Russia 6-1/2_d._ 5-1/2_d._ Portugal 5-1/2_d._ 4-1/2_d._ Sweden 5_d._ 4_d._ Spain 4-1/2_d._ 4_d._ Canary Isles 1_s._7-1/2_d._ 10_d._ the minimum charge for a telegram being 10_d._ in all cases. The transmission of foreign money orders by telegraph was inaugurated in 1898 by the opening of an exchange with Germany and its extension shortly afterward to the other important European countries.[817] [817] _Rep. P. G._, 1897, pp. 40-42; 1879, p. 21; 1886, p. 10; 1892, p. 19; 1900, p. 10. In 1892, an attempt was made, curiously suggestive of Marconi's discovery, to transmit telegraph messages without a direct wire. The experiment was conducted between the island of Flat Holm in the Bristol Channel and the mainland, a distance of three miles. A wire was erected on the mainland parallel with one on the island, and, by means of strong vibratory currents sent through the former, signals were transmitted and messages exchanged. Three years later and before the practical value of the Flat Holm experiment had been substantiated, Mr. Marconi arrived in England to submit his plans to the Post Office. A private wire from Poldhu to Falmouth was provided for him on the usual rental terms, and it was announced that the Post Office would act as his agent for collecting messages to be transmitted by wireless telegraphy when he had proved the feasibility of his project. At the international congress on wireless telegraphy held in Berlin in 1903 it was recommended that shore stations equipped with wireless apparatus should be bound to exchange messages with ships at sea without regard to the system of wireless telegraphy employed by the latter, that the rate of charge for the shore station should be subject to the approval of the state where it was situated, the rate of the ship to the approval of the state whose flag it carried, and that the working of wireless stations should be regulated so as to interfere with other stations as little as possible. In order to enable the Government to carry out the decision of the congress and to place wireless telegraphy under its control for strategic purposes, an act was passed in 1904 making it illegal to instal or work wireless telegraphic apparatus in the United Kingdom or on board a British ship in territorial waters without the licence of the Postmaster-General. The act was to be operative for two years only, but before its expiration, was extended until the 31st of December, 1909, before which it might again be renewed. Arrangements were also made for