Catalogue description Indo-European Telegraph Department

See Z/L/PWD/7 for registers and indexes. See also: Home Miscellaneous H/551 ff 1-738; records of the Economic and Overseas Department, especially L/E/7 and L/E/8; records of the Public Works Department, L/PWD; records of the Political and Secret Department, L/PS; Official Publications, V. See also Proceedings for Bombay: Public Works, Indo-European Telegraph, Political, and General. See also Proceedings for India: Public Works, Foreign.

• Indo-European Telegraph Department, 1862-1931

The Indo-European Telegraph Department was founded in 1862 at the instigation of the Secretary of State for India, as a department of the Government of Bombay, although it was transferred to the Government of India in 1870. It was a separate department with its own Director in Chief directly responsible to the Secretary of State for India, but was closely associated with the Public Works Department. From about 1865, its main administrative offices were in London. It managed the telegraph lines maintained by the department in Persia and the Gulf, (besides certain lines belonging to the Persian Government), as part of the network linking England and India. It liaised with the governments of the states through which the line passed and the other telegraphic administrations involved. The department also supplied technical advice on telegraphic matters to the India Office.

In 1878, the Indo-European Telegraph Department entered into a Joint Purse arrangement with its two competitors. Under this, all three paid in their gross receipts, less 'paid-outs' such as royalties due to the Persian government, to a common pool and drew out a percentage calculated on the basis of traffic carried. In 1885 the Persian Section of the Department took over the running of the Persian Government line from Tehran to Meshed. Control of the Indo-European Telegraph Department passed to the Indian Telegraph Department in India, and the London office was closed after these changes were recommended in 1887. However, in 1893 the Department once more became separate with its own Director in Chief directly answerable to the Secretary of State for India, and with a headquarters in the India Office in London. Administrative accounts however, as opposed to Joint Purse and traffic accounts, continued to be kept in India.

During the 20th century, the development of wireless technology meant that the cable systems ceased to be such a crucial link between England and India. Following the Imperial Conference on Wireless and Telegraphs of 1928, it was decided to amalgamate all cable and wireless enterprises into one communications company under the control of a Government supervisory board. Initially these changes proceeded without affecting the Indo-European Telegraph Department. However, ultimately it was decided that the Department's Persian lines and assets should be transferred to the Persian Government while the Gulf lines and assets were to be transferred to the communications company Imperial and International Communications Ltd. The landline in British Baluchistan and the Jask-Gwadur line were taken over by the Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department. The Tehran-Meshed line had already been transferred to the Persian Government in 1928. The Joint Purse agreements were terminated. In March 1931, the Indo-European Telegraph Department closed down and its residual functions were taken over by the Economic and Overseas Department to which it had been connected since the abolition of the Public Works Department in 1926.