The observation table at the great telephone exchange at the General Post Office. An observer is sitting with a split second stop watch in front of him. He records the exact time taken by operators to establish connection between subscribers, together with their treatment of subscribers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ At the meeting of the British Association in the same year, Sir William Thomson gave his experiences at the Philadelphia Exhibition. “In the Canadian Department I heard 'To be or not to be ... there's the rub' through an electric wire: but scorning monosyllables, the electric articulation rose to higher flights, and gave me passages taken at random from the New York newspapers. 'S.S. Cox has arrived' (I failed to make out the S.S. Cox). 'The City of New York,' 'Senator Morton,' 'the Senate has resolved to print a thousand extra copies.' 'The Americans in London have resolved to celebrate the coming 4th of July.' All this my own ears heard spoken to me with unmistakable distinctness by the then circular disc-armature of just such another little electro-magnet as I hold in my hand.” Mr. William Preece, who was in after years knighted, and who was at the time Divisional Engineer to the General Post Office, exhibited at this same meeting Bell's telephone, which he had brought from the United States, and Graham Bell himself gave further illustrations. Mr. Preece was at that time watching the progress of the telephone with a keen eye for the interests of the Post Office, but so also were business men who saw a profitable opening for private enterprise. To put the matter briefly, the instrument was at once captured by private speculators and exploited for all it was worth and a good deal more besides. The Telephone Company, Limited, was formed in 1878 to acquire Bell's patent, and in 1879 the Edison Telephone Company of London was formed. By this time it was being generally discussed whether these people were not poaching on the manor of the Postmaster-General. That official asked Parliament to insert a clause in a Telegraph Bill which was under discussion declaring that “the term 'telegraph' included any apparatus for transmitting messages or other communications with the aid of electricity, magnetism, or any like agency.” But Parliament has usually a very tender heart for the private speculator, and refused to agree to this proposal. It is a habit with many ill-informed people to blame the officials of the Post Office for not collaring the telephone from the first, but if there were any blame attached to them it must be shared by Parliament. There was possibly in official circles a little jealousy of this new rival to the telegraph: it must be remembered that State telegraphs were yet in their infancy, and officials were still at work organising the new system all over the country at great expense to the State.