TELEPHONE DENSITY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 189, 12 August 1938, Page 15

TELEPHONE DENSITY.

NEW ZEALAND'S POSITION. INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON. In the number of telephones in use per hundred of population, New Zealand for many years has compare;! most favourably with the hading telephoned countries of the world. The latest world statistics, which have just been received by the Post master-General (the Hon. F. Jones), and which indicate the position at the beginning of last year, show that New Zealand once again occupies third position, after having filled the fourth position during the two previous years. The density in the leading countries is a* follows: —United States of America, 14.39 per 100 of population; Canada, 11.48; New Zealand, 11.23; Sweden, 10.97; Denmark, 10.89.

Australia and Great Britain occupy seventh and ninth places with densities of 8.31 and 5.93 respectively. On March 31 of the present year the density in New Zealand had risen to 11.97, compared with a density of 10 in 1934. In New Zealand, telephones are well distributed throughout rural a* well as urban areas. This is well illustrated by the fact that in a world table showing the number of telephones per 100 of population in communities of less than 50 r ,OOO, New Zealand with a density of 10.19 takes second place only to the United States, which in this respect has a "density of 10.33.