Irish or Cornwall stations, and at the stations in Canada. Owing to
the great competition for the American traffic, the service between
London, Liverpool, and Glasgow and New York is said to be much
superior to that between any two towns in Britain. The cables are
extensively used by stock brokers, and it is a common occurrence for
one to send a message and receive a reply within five minutes.

During breakages in cables messages have sometimes to take very
circuitous routes. For instance, during the two days, three years ago,
that a tremendous storm committed such havoc among the telegraph wires
around London, cutting off all communication with the lines connected
with the Channel cables at Dover, Lowestoft, etc., it was of common
occurrence for London merchants to communicate with Paris through New
York. The cablegram leaving London going north to Holyhead and
Ireland, across the Atlantic to New York and back _via_ St. Pierre to
Brest and thence on to Paris, a total distance of about seven thousand
miles.

Three years ago, when the great blizzard cut off all communication
between New York and Boston, messages were accepted in New York, sent
to this country, and thence back to Boston.

Some time ago the cables between Madeira and St. Vincent were out of
order, cutting off communication by the direct route to Brazil, and a
message to reach Rio Janeiro had to pass through Ireland, Canada,
United States, to Galveston, thence to Vera Cruz, Guatemala,
Nicaragua, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Chili; from Valparaiso across the
Andes, through the Argentine Republic to Buenos Ayres, and thence by
East Coast cables to Rio Janeiro, the message having traversed a
distance of about twelve thousand miles and having passed through