A TOLL CALL

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25310, 9 October 1947, Page 5

A TOLL CALL

Sir, —Wanting urgently to ring Hororata at 7.30 o’clock to-night from New Brighton, I rang “Information,” Christchurch, and asked what to do, the post office here being closed. “Information” informed me that for Is opening fee I could ring from New Brighton post office. As I was ringing Christchurch from the call box outside the post office at New Brighton they put me through to it. where the postmaster’s wife informed me that as her husband was on holiday, my call could not go through. • Kindly let me know if the postmaster is the only capable person employed at the New Brighton post office.—Yours, etc., A NEW BRIGHTON RATEPAYER. October 2. 1947. [The “after hours” service was available when the postmaster was available, and his wife had no authority to operate the toll service in his absence, said the Chief Postmaster (Mr D. R. Thomson), in reply to this letter. When off duty or on holiday, the postmaster could not be expected to wait at home to handle toll calls, and naturally not every employee could be given keys to the office. In cases of emergency, a person could make a call from an hotel, store or the house of another subscriber, he said.]