THE JAPANESE AND THE TELEPHONE.
Two JAPANESE officials have been spending some time in London inquiring into the subject of telegraphy. It seems that they are somewhat behind in this matter, especially in the use of telegraphic messages for the press. A press correspondent gathers from these officials that as yet despatches are too expensive for the paper, but that “they have developed the use of the telephone to an extent much beyond us.” Press communication is mainly carried by telephone, and, Mr. Kawasum tells us, with hardly any inaccuracy, altho the men in the office take down the reporter’s message at the rate of over 100 words a minute. He thought that Japanese was a language that took the telephone better than English did. They used the telephone over considerable distance, carrying on constant communication between towns as far apart as London and Edinburgh are.