Telephone charges

Press, 24 March 1988, Page 16

Telephone charges

Sir, —D. J.: Lattimore (March 17) should have no) illusions .'about the] true cost of [telephone charges. I have] lived with userpays in Sydney] long enough to know that] to discard oiir present free local call system I would be monumentally stupid and inexorably destructive [lto one of! New Zealand’s gentler ways! of life: It creates endless i niggling tension throughout society as employers stifle their employees’ use of the telephone for private calls,’ flatmates biqker ' oyer who is’ running'up the big bill, and sporting and social clubs’ try to [communicate! wittout imposing on the willing volunteers. The elderly and | poor may. have! a lower telephone bill, : but must now carry the emotional burden of worrying about] it being even lower. If Telecom does bring in individual charges, I! will be demanding an itemised account of every [call 1 1 am supposed to havd made, including ! numbers, namps arjd addresses. How else am I going to hand the charges on to a guest who may wish to use the telephone, or a] friend or businessman who asks me to call back? —| Yours, etc., lAN ORCHARD. 1 March 17, 1988.