Our study of the transport network of rail, roads and shipping has shown that strong sinews had developed and were knitting the colony together in firm patterns of interdependence. We turn now to the ‘nerves’ of the colony, the networks along which information flowed. A glance at the Post and Telegraph Department's 1885 report shows that these too were now well developed.¹ During the year the colony's 4,463-mile telegraph network had carried 1,533,406 telegrams. The colonists had posted over 16,000,000 letters and postcards to be sorted and delivered through over 1,000 post offices, and over another 1,000,000 to be dispatched overseas. On average, each person had posted 28.26 letters. Journalism too was flourishing. The 20 newspapers registered with the Post Office in 1885 had brought the total to 187, and registered magazines increased by 6 to 175. Most of the letters and telegrams have perished, but extensive newspaper files have survived, and within their pages many of the vanished telegrams and letters appear as printed text. The nature of the surviving sources means that this chapter will inevitably be concerned mainly with the newspaper press.