Minister At, But Not On, Chatham Islands

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29803, 21 April 1962, Page 13

Minister At, But Not On, Chatham Islands

The new manual telephone exchange on the Chatham Islands was declared open last Tuesday after the At-torney-General (Mr Hanan) and the regional engineer for the Post Office in Wellington (Mr L. D Bewley) had flowm from Wellington to the islands for the ceremony but were unable to land because of the high wind. Their R.N.Z.A.F. Dakota cruised overhead for an hour, waiting for an opportunity to land, and at one stage came within a few feet of the ground, but eventually had to return to Wellington. This news was given when a party of six Christchurch men. lines staff of the engineering branch of the Post Office, returned bv a special R.NZ.A.F flight from the Chaihams last evening, after working on telephone-line installation for the exchange since January. The Resident Commissioner on the Chathams (Mr D. S Reid) had to open the new exchange on behalf of the Postmaster-General, at a ceremony in the Waitangi halt it was learned. The men who returned were Messrs C. N. Fitzgerald, J. Bergstrom, B. Brown. I F Kenny. L. Alderson, and D. Fifield. The party had encountered what Chathams’ ' residents said was the driest spell on the islands for 10 years, so that the work of line installation had gone ahead steadily, said Mr Fitzgerald, the party's leader. The party

had stayed at the Hotel Chatham, on the beach at Waitangi Bay. and had worked out from the township for a distance of 15 miles Underground cabling had been laid in the area near Waitangi township, with overhead wires further out. “We all found the winds colder than in New Zealand.” said Mr Fitzgerald. “There is also a lot of showery weather.” The new telephone exchange has a 100-line switchboard, with 82 subscribers using 45 of the lines. The next major communications undertaking in the Chathams will be the full-time radio link to the national network of the Post Office. This is likely to take at least three years.