Telephone Exchange Approved For Mount Maunganut

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 14929, 17 March 1949, Page 3

Telephone Exchange Approved For Mount Maunganut

Twenty Months' Old Request

Calls To Tauranga Still

Tolls

A letter written to the PostmasterGeneral by the Mount Maunganu l Chamber of Commerce on July 20, 1947, in which the need for an improved telephone service in the growing borough was stressed, has been finally repiied to alter an interval of a year and eight months. The letter also asked Mr Hackett if an exchange was to be installed, whether it would link up with the Tauranga exchange so that toll charges between the two towns would be avoided.

An acknowledgment, dated August 4, 1947, stating that the request would be given consideration, was received, and also; another letter written on - October 9, 1947 stating that the question of a telephone exchange was still being investigated and that the Chamber of Commerce wou'd be further communicated with when a decision had been reached. Nothing further on the subject had been heard until receipt of a letter dated March 9. 1949.

The president, Mr A. McFarlane, commented that apparently the letter had been pigeon-holed or forgotten, fcr the delay in receiving the reply appeared unduly long. In his reply > the PostmasterGeneral stated that it had now been decided that a manual exchange should be installed at Mount Maunganui and that the work would be proceeded with as soon as possible. The provision of an exchange at Mount Maunganui was a major job, the letter continued, and it was likely that some considerable time would elapse before the work could be undertaken, as it depended largely on the availability of equipment from overseas. When the position regarding the required equipment returned to normal, the letter stated, the installation would be proceeded with. Referring to the chamber's request that calls between Mount Maunganui and Tauranga should be excluded from a toll charge, the Post-master-General stated that, undeithe telephone regulations, subscribers served from separate exchanges must be charged lor as toll calls, and that no exception could be made as requested. The letter stated that it could be confidently expected that a muchimproved service for subscribers would be enjoyed when the new exchange was installed and that, with adequate facilities provided, there would be a minimum of delay for toll calls between Mount Maunganui and Tauranga.