TELEPHONE IN CHATHAMS

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29724, 18 January 1962, Page 9

TELEPHONE IN CHATHAMS

Post Office Team To Finish Work The Post Office will have seven men in uhe Chatham Islands over the next few weeks to finish the laying of cables for the new telephone system there. The overseer (Mr C. Fitzgerald) and three men will sail from Lyttelton in the Holmbum on Tuesday, and three more men will go by' flying-boa.t from Evans Bay. Wellington, a few days later. : With the aid of half a dozen local men they have about 10 miles of cable to lay Most of it ir lead-in cables to houses ’which are commonly set well away from the roadside lines. Twenty miles of cable and overhead line has already been finished. A heavy line truck will be sent in the Holmburn Most, materials are already at Waitangi, but more poles will be sent on next month’s sailing of the Holmbum. The manual exchange gear, some of its equipment in duplicate as an insurance: against faults, is being built up in Christchurch. The soil conditions to the Chatham Islands are good for the laying of underground cable, and the Post Office also regards this method as more economical for- maintenance. The system should be working at the end of April with about 80 subscribers.