Curiously enough, the tramways, which, as we have seen, antedate the railway, went into disuse when the railways developed, and it was only about 1870 that they were successfully reinstated in the form of street railways, on the model of the American system. They have not yet become nearly so common as in the United States, car riage transportation still being mainly depended upon in the cities. In 1900 the mileage of tram ways in England and Wales was 933; in Scot land, 107; and in Ireland, 137 miles, about half of the above total mileage belonging to local au thorities. The necessity for some means of rapid transit to meet the needs of agricultural and other interests not served by the regular system of railway transportation resulted in the con struction of light railways during the last years of the nineteenth century. In 1900 seventy-one applications for permits to construct such lines were approved by the Board of Trade. The greater part of these lines were modeled after the ordinary railway, while the remainder were nearer to the type of the American interurban street railways.
Great Britain has highly efficient postal and telegraph services, both of which are in the hands of the Government. The postal system was revo lutionized by legislative acts of 1837 and 1839, the penny postage for letters being established in the latter year. Following this change, the an nual number of letters carried per head of the population for the United Kingdom increased from 4 in 1839 to 8 in 1840, 31 in 1870, and 57 in 1901. For England and Wales in the last year the figure per head was 62, for Scotland 47, and for Ireland 32. The revenue from the postal service exceeds the expenditure by nearly £4,000,000 annually. A parcel post,
run in connection with the post-office system, has largely supplanted private express com panies in the carrying of light packages. Postal savings banks and a system of life insurance are connected with the postal system. (See SAVINGS BARKS below.) During the years from 1868 to 1870 the Government assumed the owner ship and control of all telegraph lines in the United Kingdom, and made them a part of the post-office system. The charges were greatly re duced, with a consequent enormous increase in the number of messages sent. Telegrams may he sent to any part of the United Kingdom for 6d. for the first twelve words, and 1 halfpenny for each additional word. The telegraph service creates a slight deficit each year.
The Government has also developed the policy of purchasing and controlling as a part of the post-office system the telephone lines of the coun try. In 1892 Parliament made the first appro priation for the purchase of the lines, and by 1897 all the main lines had been acquired; but a private company still had a monopoly of the local or town lines. In 1899 the Government began to compete with the lines inside the towns, and licenses are now required of new companies specifying that the Government may purchase the line at the expiration of the license, thus pre paring the way for the nationalization of all telephone lines in the near future.' Great Britain is connected with Ireland by a large number of submarine cables, and thence by five lines with America. The cables to the Continent of Europe include one each to Norway, Denmark, and The Ilague, and two each to Germany and France.