TELEPHONES AT HALSWELL

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28025, 20 July 1956, Page 10

TELEPHONES AT HALSWELL

PRIORITY SYSTEM CRITICISED MEETING OF COUNTY COUNCIL Further information oh the extension of the telephone system in Halswell will be sought from the Chief Postmaster in Christchurch <Mr H. R. Pool) by the Halswell County Council. At a meeting yesterday, the council expressed its dissatisfaction with the telephone priority system as it now operates. A deputation from the council met Mr Pool on June 28 and he had shown that connexions in Halswell had been dealt with strictly according to their priority listing, said the chairman (Mr J. Mackenzie). Nevertheless, the “holdover” priority, by which newcomers to the district who had telephones in their previous dwellings were placed at the head of the priority list, meant that newcomers were connected before residents who might have been waiting as long as 10 years. “But there is nothing we can do about it but wait. We can express our concern at the very sparse telephone service in the district,” said Mr Mackenzie. Cr. H. Cox: We must be the only county round about that hasn’t got the ’phone on. Cr. E. G. Robertson: There seems to be no plans regarding Halswell. We seem to be totally neglected altogether. Proposed Urban Fence An amendment to the proposed urban fence to bring a strip approximately three miles long by half a mile wide inside the fence, will be recommended by the council to the Regional Planning Authority. The strip will be bounded by a line along Smith's road and Middle Lincoln road to Templeton’s lane, and then along Hendersons road to the intersection with the proposed fence. As it is at present the proposed fence, so far as Halswell county is concerned, marches with the city boundary. The council will advise the Commissioner of Crown Lands that it approves of expenditure not exceeding £Boo— funds accruing under the Land Subdivision in Counties Act—on the resiting and sealing of three tennis courts in the Halswell Domain. Messrs J. Overton and A. T. Cunningham, members of the Halswell Domain Board, were received by the council, and said the board and the Halswell Tennis Club had about £3OO in hand for the work. The total cost would be about £llOO, they said. Mr E. G. Robertson was appointed the council's representative on the Canterbury Provincial Patriotic Council.