THE DEVONPORT TELEPHONE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 133, 7 June 1910, Page 2

THE DEVONPORT TELEPHONE.

■ THAT OBNOXIOUS BUREAU FEE. . ' DEPUTATION TO SIX JOSEPH i WAfKD-. Mr. L. R. Phillips., M.P., introduced ■ .Messrs. H. Reimers, G. Henderson, and ;-T. 'Wake to the Hon. 'Sir Joseph Wurd * 'this morning as a deputation .appointed I to /bring under the notice of -the premier ! "the necessity for an improvement 'being - made in the system of'telephonic coin- ' naunication now obtaining between Devonport and Auckland. 5 (Members of the deputation pointed ' out that the Borough of Devonport now ! had a population of cloee on 7000 souls, > and was within 2 miles of the city of ' Auckland. But under the present tele- ! phonic arrangement a- charge of 3d was ■ made for communication with subacrib--1 era in Auckland. This ivae found to bo • a heavy tax by business people, who now 1 quito Teeognised that a telephone was L one of the necessary adjuncts to a busi- ! - ness fflanJe outfit- If this charge were •• removed, it would lead to a great in- ■' crease in business generally, and also ■" a great increase- In the number of sub- '■ seiibers to the exchange. It was niaia- - tamed tb-t-t -telephonic communication be- ! tween the various suburbs and . tho l j towns to .which those suburbs belonged,: should be free, and thus in accordance with; 4he progressive policy of tthe Government. There was also an annoyance j in regard to the manner in which these i fees were collected. A subscriber got a peremptory demand for the payment of a stated amount at -the end of the month, but no particulare were given, and the items in the account were not specified, so he had no cheek upon them. H a man spoke for more toon three minutes he was charged extra, and ac there were no items in the account, he could not tell to what the charges referred. Residents at Devonport had hoped that the Government would see its way to grant a direct cable across the Waitemata. It was understood the cost would 'be £1250, and .there was no doubt ■the revenue would more 'than pay for the interest, depreciation, and sinking fund. No doubt, however, tfhis would ■take time to consider; I>ut there might now be an abolition of the call fees for ■those who had %o telephones, one on either side of tile harbour. That -would •be a.sort of abolition of all the call fee 3 later on. ■ The • telephone -nowadays practically a part and parcel of every man's daily -businesSj "but under the pre.cent .system, the "call'fees," running as they -did to -from -£17 to £20 per annum, became a heavy tax, and, 'besides, .subscribers were not getting the amount of service from-their 'phones that ifcheyought to get,- while the system "wae preventing. many persons from 'becoming subscribers'. It wbuld'eyen be better if —fcße call chaige.,i>f_ 3d. i:were abolished, and the '.annual subscription increased. Although ■the suburb was only two mOes away, from the city, subscribers were charged on a circuit of 12f miles! It was added

-that-ifche-Mayor of the borough had been ■informed that a suitable cable was *t present lying in Auckland.

Sir Joseph Ward, In reply, said this matter which, had come up on former occasions, had received a good deal of 'his attention, and he was fairly familiar -•with it." "If one ca:ble ■wfould overcome all (the difficulties that presented themselves, it would not be a hard matter' to deal with. But if the fee of 3d were abolished instead of one cable doing the work it would require at the very least fifty" "cables! As a iact the Government could not proyide all these cables, and if the fee were abolished he could not see where they would end with- cables for the number he 'had mentioned <wouid be necessary to give an efficient service, for. they could not get more than four or six lines into a cable, and the .more lines put in the more costly the cable. He would be very glad to go into the matter again, and if he found that any concession' could be granted it would be done, in reason. As to the system of charging, an alteration had been made, so. that every person could now -hare; the payment charge made every morning or every week. The charge had had to be made because the-attendants at tthe bureau, instead of receiving salaries, got half the charges made by the Government fox doing the work. Recently the matter had been carefully gone into, and it was found that the Government actually paid 4Jd and earned 3d! He -was quite amazed to make this discovery. His own opinion' was that the Bureau charge would "have to be raised throughout New Zealand, and tihat 4d at least would ihave to be charged for Bureau connection 'Dec&use tie telephones are so expensive now that the more that were provided the greater the loss they were going to majse •under tie existing system; - For that reason the Government would fetye tp dp something, as they could not go on paying 4|d for 3d. He iad .gone into -Oris .matter carefnlly,•but had." not yet !heen able to solve -the puzzle. ,