Sister’s Birthday Call To Cornwall

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30406, 3 April 1964, Page 2

Sister’s Birthday Call To Cornwall

After not seeing each other for 46 years, Mrs D. Eddy, of Rangiora, and her sister, Mrs E. Davis, of Penzance, Cornwall, spoke together by long distance telephone on Wednesday evening. Both Mrs Eddy and her sister celebrate their birthdays on the same day—although Mrs Davis is a year younger—and Mrs Eddy’s son, Mr D. Eddy, an engineer with the Post Office in Christchurch arranged the call as a special birthday surprise. Mr Eddy wrote to Mrs Davis for her telephone number and then notified both sisters of the time the call was booked. It came through as planned, at 8 p.m. in New Zealand and 9 a.m. in Britain. Unfortunately the Commonwealth Pacific telephone

cable was broken by the recent Alaskan earthquake and the call had to be made on the radio telephone system. This meant that only one of the sisters could speak at a time.

Mrs Eddy said yesterday that although her sister’s voice was clear she had to listen closely. “I caught every word she said.” She was quite disappointed that the call could not be made on the cable as she was looking forward to finding out what it was really like. “They say it’s just like talking to another person in the same room,” she said. Mrs Eddy came to New Zealand from Cornwall 46 years ago and has lost all trace of a brogue. She was very surprised at the richness of her sister’s typical Cornish voice.