Tasmania - COLLECT telegrams

The facility was available to users of the telegraph system to send a telegram and charge the cost to the recipient of the telegram. This option was referred to as COLLECT TELEGRAMS.

Such a use was not unusual and the practice was continued well into the Australian era - and of course with more watchfulness and more forms.

In Colonial days, Tasmania - and the other Colonies - provided the COLLECT facility by simply requiring a sended to annotate the transmission form with the word COLLECT. The Operator would calculate the cost and add that to the message on the transmission form after the added word. The recipient of such a telegram would then be notified that a telegram had arrived for them and they would pay the required amount before accessing their telegram.

There are many examples of COLLECT telegrams for Tasmania. Some of these are on ad hoc forms while others are on the printed transmission forms and delivery forms.

Transmission form (TC-TO-1B) for a message sent from Green Ponds to Launcestor on 18 May 1871..
The cost of the 10 words of the message was 1 shilling and this would have been paid by Messrs Harris & Just in Launceston.