103
etc. From the post-offices along these routes local posts are dispatched
to the various districts with the mail. But during summer the horse-
caravans are now rapidly being replaced by motor vehicles, which in
the vicinity of Reykjavik and in the southern lowlands are frequently
run all the year round.
As coasting has improved, the inter-provincial mail is in an ever
increasing degree being sent by sea to the various ports. The govern-
ment coaster, as already mentioned, now makes 17 trips a year round
the coasts (from the middle of February to the end of the year), and
many steamers, plying between Iceland and foreign countries, regular-
ly call at a number of ports to receive and deliver postal matter. But
the mail connexion between the ports and the interior is still unsatis-
factory, except where regular automobile service has been established.
In 1928 there were in Iceland 477 post offices open. During that
year 1339 thousand ordinary letters and postcards were dispatched;
1001 thousand newspaper packets and other printed matter; and 91
thousand other parcels. Furhermore, there were delivered 19 thousand
money-letters, to the amount of 6.6 million krénur; 7 thousand re-
gistered parcels, to a sum of 3.1 million krénur; 48 thousand trade
charge money orders; and 73 thousand postal orders, to the total value
of 9.6 million krénur.
In 1906 a submarine cable was laid from the Shetland Isles,
through the Faroes, to SeydisfjorBur on the east coast of Iceland. Det
store nordiske Telegrafselskab (The Great Northern Telegraph Com-
pany) in Denmark who laid the cable (with grants from the Icelandic
and Danish treasuries) secured the sole right of operating it for twen-
ty years. This privilege expired in 1926, but has now been extended
for another -eight years,
At the time when the cable was laid, there were no telegraphs or
telephones in the country, except the Reykjavik local exchange and a
line between Hafnarfjérdur and Reykjavik; but a telegraph line was
constructed from SeydisfjérOur to Reykjavik, and telephone lines
are steadily being added. All trunk lines are constructed by the
State, the local lines partly at the expense of the districts con-
cerned. The telegraph (excluding the submarine cable) and tele-
phone services, interprovincial as well as local, are carried on by the
State. On December 31st 1928 there were 260 ordinary telegraph
stations and 6. wireless ones. The telegraphs and telephones had a
total length of 3272 kilometres, the length of wires being 9738 kilo-
metres; during that year a total of 266 thousand telegrams were dealt
