TELEPHONE RENTS

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31341, 11 April 1967, Page 16

TELEPHONE RENTS

New Rates Not Yet Effective Although the rents for telephones officially went up on April 1, no-one In the South Island is paying them yet More than 74,000 subscribers in Christchurch will not have to start paying the new rates until May, and those in Oamaru and Central Otago until June 8. The first subscribers to go on to the new rates will be those in Invercargill, who will receive new accounts for the two months beginning on April 15. The Deputy Chief Postmaster in Christchurch (Mr M. Johnston) said yesterday it had been agreed after the new rates were announced that they would apply from the time of issuing new accounts after April 1. It had also been decided that there should be no retrospective payments for periods between April 1 and the issue of new accounts. The saving to Christchurch residential subscribers will be 8s 4d, but those in Oamaru and Central Otago will save 18s lOd in rental fees. Those in Invercargill will save 4s 4d. Savings for commercial subscribers will be proportionately higher because of their higher rates. Mr Johnston said the system of Issuing accounts was such that none coincided with the date of the new rentals. As all accounts for the South Island were prepared in Christchurch it was impossible to send them out at the same time.