POST OFFICE REPLY

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29842, 7 June 1962, Page 10

POST OFFICE REPLY

Mr Lush's article was referred to the Director-Gen-eral of the Post Office (Mr D. Donaldson) for comment. A reply from a Post Office spokesman has been received, as follows: “Your contributor must have been looking over our shoulder into our crystal ball . . . the method of printing telephone directories is under review at the moment. We agree that if a directory cannot be read easily, the whole of the telephone system becomes useless to the subscribers. We are proposing to change to a completely new system, which will cut the time and costs of preparing directories very greatly. When we make this change, we will take the opportunity of changing the type to improve its clarity. The question of the size of type must, of'course, be related to the size of the book. Our aim is to avoid the directory being too unwieldy in size, while maintaining' a reasonable clarity for people whose sight is slightly below normal. Push-button Dials “As to telephone dials, push-button dials have already been developed and are undergoing field trials overseas. They were designed primarly to speed the setting up of a call, but one of the trial models allows the user to pre-set digits and later push a call button to dial the number. These push-button instruments are unlikely to be applied to our present automatic telephone equipment, but within the next decade or so fully-elec-tronic automatic telephone exchanges are likely to be introduced, and the push-but-ton telephone instrument is being developed for use with these new exchanges. A lot of work remains to be done before a satisfactory design is achieved. But your contributor will be interested to know that developments are along the lines he envisages. “On the question of toll charges, the system referred to of charging for telephone calls in Britain has been introduced with subscriber trunk dialling, whereby the telephone subscriber dials certain of his long-distance calls. All calls in Britain, both local and toll, have always been subject to an individual charge, and the new arrangement provides for charging in 2d units, the length of the talking time allowed for 2d, depending on the distance of the call. For example, a call from London to Glasgow or Liverpool may last only 12 or 24 seconds, and so cost only 2d or 4d. There is no minimum charge of three minutes for these subscriber-dialled

long-distance calls, but with this system local calls are also timed, and during the day time are charged at 2d for pach three minutes. Rental and Tolls

In New Zealand, we have always had free calling over the local exchange area and toll charges for calls beyond this area. We believe this, is better than charging for all local calls, although telephone rentals must be high enough to cover the costs. This system leaves the subscriber free to make as many calls of as long a duration as he likes within his local call area, and results in the telephone in New Zealand being used much more than it is in Britain—and this is what we-want. We want the telephone to be part of everyone’s daily life, and we want to develop our system so that as communities grow, and as modern transport reduces distance, so the telephone system grows with the community and the area over which people may call without a toll call is correspondingly increased. In Christchurch, since the war, we have increased the local free-calling area to include Lyttelton, Sumner, Governors Bay. and a large area to the south, including Halswell, Islington, and Yaldhurst. “This sort of wide area free calling is being developed for other towns and cities.

“Modern technical developments , are reducing the cost significance of distance in telecommunications, and hence the expansion of our fiat rate toll-free areas is not costing as much as it once would have, and the expansion is likely to cost less as the years go on. Thus, the increased rentals that are involved should not be very great. In the distant future, we see the possibility of a system which would provide a no-toll-fee service for all users throughout New Zealand on a flat-rate basis. In this ultimate plan, any subscriber would be able to dial directly any other subscriber without delay, and without toll charges—all for a uniform flat-rate rental.

“It will take many years to achieve this objective, but it seems to be well worthwhile in terms of our aim to provide telephone service, and not sell individual telephone calls,”