Inside a telephone directory

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33384, 16 November 1973, Page 8

Inside a telephone directory

The telephone has been called “ the greatest *• nuisance among conveniences and the greatest “ convenience among nuisances ”, Its convenience is only as great as the key to its use; for that, subscribers depend on the humble, heavy, highlydetailed and remarkably accurate telephone directory. When the latest edition of the Christchurch directory comes into use tonight the Post Office deserves more than a passing thought for its achievement: a book of nearly 800 pages, most of it a model of typographical clarity. The familiar uses for the directory — as a source of information about telephone numbers, addresses and post codes, postage rates, and charges for toll calls — can be extended in the pursuit of curious detail. Compilers of this directory distinguish between nearly 1000 members of the Smith family — no mean achievement. The Prime Minister has his Christchurch number listed modestly in ordinary type, but one of his Cabinet Ministers has achieved a bold listing. It costs the same amount to ring China or Taiwan, but a postcard can be sent to Taiwan for a cent less than to the mainland. Calls can be made to persons in some countries who do not have a telephone. They will be summoned. Do Post Office couriers with dog teams or camels arrive at igloos or black desert tents and announce: “ Come quickly “ — Christchurch is calling”? Each edition of the directory records advances in services. There are more subscribers than households in Christchurch — about 95,000 telephone listings and 82,000 households. Only seven country exchanges still have limited hours of service, including the Chatham Islands; more and more sections and “ after-hours ” numbers are being included in the general listings for Government Departments and local authorities. More emergency senice numbers are listed inside the front cover. One or two entries there now might well be dropped and others — the National Poisons Information Centre in Dunedin, for example — added. A map showing the areas served by country exchanges would also be useful, especially for city subscribers. The advertising listings, the Yellow Pages, are a social commentary on the times: there is, for example, only one candle-maker listed in Christchurch, but entries dealing with electricians and electrical matters fill six pages; even more entries concern the purchase and maintenance of television sets, while the theatre listings take only one-quarter of a column and booksellers and newsagents a mere half-page. There is one heraldic craftsman (who must be telephoned in Auckland) but there are more than three pages of entries dealing with photography. The information contained in advertisements is sometimes startling; who would have thought to consult a telephone directory to find how to remove mustard or chewing gum from carpets? At the end of the directory the civil defence section begins with the disarming remark: “ Do not use your telephone ” — sound advice in an emergency when non-essential calls might disrupt a switchboard. This section should be read by every subscriber, right through to the equally sensible advice that if tidal waves are the equally sensible advice that if “seismic (tidal) “ sea waves ” are expected: “ Do not go to the sea “ coast ”. Sensible households will also note the civil defence sector post nearest them from the list provided — and keep their telephone book handy.