two or three steamboat lines to foreign ports, particularly to obtain
rapid postal communication, e.g. Kristiansand and Eredrikshavn,
Jutland (daily), and Bergen and Newcastle (3 times a week). The
intention of encouraging export has of course something to do
with this also, and is the only object of the third government-
supported route Ijjfifrom the north and west of Norway to the
Mediterranean. At the present time, about half a million kroner
is paid for the conveyance of mails, and the support of these three
routes to foreign ports. The total government grant for steamboat
communication thus amounts to almost SB/s million kroner, rather
more than half of this being for the conveyance of mails.
In all these sums the grant to steamers on lakes is also included.
Of late years, the rich and varied scenery of Norway has attracted
an ever-increasing number of pleasure-seekers to the country,
chiefly in the months of July and August. Their number has been
estimated at 13,569 in 1886, 15,747 in 1887, 16,776 in. 1888, 23,403
in 1890 and 27,138 in 1895. Englishmen and Swedes were most
largely represented. The profit they bring to the country was estimated
at 5 million kr. in 1886, and for 1895 may be put at 7 or 8 million.
The means of communication, steamers, railways, driving roads,
mountain roads, etc. that will give tourists the best return for
their outlay, will be found fully detailed in the ordinary guidebooks.
(Baedeker. -Norway, Sweden and Denmark. 7 ed. Leipsic
1899; Cook’s Guide to Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. 3 ed. London
1899 ; Murray. Handbook for Travellers in Norway. 9 ed. London
1897; Y. Nielsen. Reisehaandbog over Norge. 9 Udg. Kristiania
1899; Meyers Reisebücher. Norwegen, Schweden u. Dänemark.
7 Aufl. Leipzig 1899; Thomas 8. Wilson. The Handy Guide to
Norway. 4 ed. London 1898).
The authorities publish a weekly time-table — «Norges Com-
municationer» ■ B- containing the principal railway and steamboat
routes.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Angaaende en Plan fo r KommwnHcatiomvcesenet (Kommunikationskommissioneris
Indstilling. Sth. Forh. 1886. 2 D. c).
J o h . Sk o u g a a r d . Det nor she Veivcesens Historie med Oversigt over Statens
VeivcBsens Virksomhed i Tidsrummet 1820—1896. Kristiania 1899.
Forhandlinger oq Äktstykke? verkommende de norske Jernbaner. I —X I I . Kristiania
1876—82, 1896.
Kanalvcesenets Historie. TJdarbeidet a f Kanalkontoret. I—IX . Kristiania
1881—88.
POST, TELEGRAPH AND
TELEPHONE
POSTAL SERVICE.
r I L1.1: beginning of the Norwegian postal service dates from about
X the middle of the 17th century. During the first few years,
the development was slow, and limited chiefly to the establishment
of connecting lines between the capital and the most important of
the other towns in the cduntry; but before the close of the century,
a regular postal service was organised up to the most northerly
districts of the country.
In our day, the postal routes cover the whole country like
a network, and in numerous ways places it in regular and frequent
communication with foreign countries. The most important foreign
mail routes are the railway from Kristiania, via Goteborg, to
Copenhagen, by which the post comes and goes twice a day; a
daily steamer-route between Kristiansand and , Frederikshavn in
Jutland, and a tri-weekly steamer-route between Bergen and Newcastle.
The most important inland post routes are identical with
the railways and the large private steamship-companies routes,
that, starting from Kristiania, Bergen and Trondhjem, embrace
the entire coast from Kristiania to Vadsa. The total length of
postal routes in 1898 amounted to about 42,864 miles. I t is indicative
of the country’s natural means of traffic that of this
amount 27,425 miles was by water, 14,137 miles by high-road,
and 1,302 miles by rail. The distance traversed was 4,192,337
miles by water, 2,192,937 miles by high-road, and 1,446,077 miles
by rail, 7,831,351 miles in all.