HISTORY UNFOLDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 45, 22 February 1940, Page 10

HISTORY UNFOLDS.

POSTAL PROGRESS. TELEGRAPHIC PIONEERS. NOVKX. SmBITIQH TEJkWKE. Nearly 16,000 people have seen the Pageant of Progress, the striking colourful cavalcado of development;*, in the Post and Telegraph Department from the earliest days of the Dominion's history to 1940. All aspects of the Department's work are graphically presented to the public by means of cutout scenes and models on a moving belt Hnked with moving picture# on a background screen. The pictures on the screen are in direct contrast to the models and cut-outs as they show modern methods while the passing panorama gives a_picture of early stages in the development of the Department's work. Synchronising with these two pictorial media is a changing sky effect and a commentary which tells the story of telegraphic progress as the cavalcade recedes. Some ftxamples of the incidents shown in the pageant include a Maori beating a "tree gonj," end as he does so the film shows telegraph wires stretching through the. country, and the sound accompaniment is the ticking of a teleprinter. In one early scene a native runner is shown transporting mails and overhead fly to-day's rapid mail 'planes. The erection of telegraph lines by the militia in 1863, the laying of the Cbok Strait cable, and the opening of the first telegraph office at Christehvreh in 1862 are all further points of interest. The pageant demonstrate* pictorially, among other things, the service provided by the Post Office Savings Bank, the convenience of the money order and the growth of the telephone systems. As the vast intricacy of modern telephone exchanges are shown on the Kreee, the commentator recites the history of the first long distance telephone conversation which took place in 1879 when Sir Georg* Grey, in Dunedin, spoke to a member of' the House of Representatives in Oamaru. From this developed the first telephone exchange'at Christchurch with 27 subscribers in 1881. Among the many hundreds of stages of development are included the rural mail service, the installation of the first wireless station at the General Post Office in 1911 and the radio telephone services. The Pageant of Progress not only makes the average man appreciate the wonders of the present day telegraph and communication, but enables the younger generation to understand and appreciate some of the hardships endured by the pioneers and the difficulties overcome.