NEW TELEPHONE EXCHANGE

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26633, 19 January 1952, Page 8

NEW TELEPHONE EXCHANGE

AUTOMATIC SYSTEM FOR GREYMOUTH BUILDINGS NOW BEING DESIGNED (From Our Own Reporter)

GREYMOUTH, January 18. It has been reported that the new two-storey concrete building which will house a new automatic telephone exchange, toll room and engineers' office in the courtyard of the Chief Post Office at Greymouth is now being designed, and tentative plans are expected to arrive at Greymouth within the next few months. It is not expected, however, that the exchange will be readv for use for about two years at the earliest.

It is hoped that a start will be made this year in putting down the underground cables in Greymouth for the new system. It i s expected that this phase of the work will take at least a year to complete. The new automatic system proposed will be the same as that used in larger centres of New Zealand, and will be fully automatic. The progress of the work will depend to a large extent on priority and the availability of materials. The number of overhead wires will be kept to a minimum, but it is understood they will not be done away with entirely. More than 2000 subscribers are now connected to the Greymouth telephone exchange—one house in every four having a telephone. The waiting list for telephones in Greymoutb It n °t as large as in other parts of the Dominion, mainly because of party-line arrangements. Before the end of the year it is also hoped to have a better toll service between the east and west coasts. A s . a Fv WI " b e made soon with installing a modern 12-channel carrier between Greymouth and Christchurch. ”, 4? present time the circuit has only three channels.