NEW TELEPHONE SYSTEM.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 528, 8 June 1909, Page 11

NEW TELEPHONE SYSTEM.

.The- new central battery .telephone' systbm' was brought.'into operation at Timaru on Friday); and ' from tke ; 'outset' - worked 'most ■ satisfactorily, i. One or two slight defects wore discovered, but ..these -' were ' ofa;minor, oharacter,.-' arid: the; whole system worked through its many jintricEwies with much less troublo than was experienced with the' former system on an ordinary day:,of the week.' ,-The .Superintendent, of Electric Lines, Mr. J. K." Logan, and 'the Chief Mr. BUokley,were present,- ;s. with': Mr.': v. A. \ 15. Slirimpton, who has installed thii liijwisystein, : •and when .the .exchange opened, ■ "they expressed entire 1 satisfaction''with its working.. It' wa.g anticipated (says ■ ■-. tpeV'-A'Tirrinru' Post") that tho operators; would have a very ■busy'/morning, . through subscribers ' being desirous. of,.testing; th'eir.new. telephones, ibut : the request. given :;to-the . public to abstain from using the systeml'for.other:.than'legitimato" purposes, was complied with, and ' the - 'were . unduly . taxed. ; Tlio change.-: from the Void ;,to the v hew.; system, meets with: the entire approval/of the "hello igirls,",, especially as; the-.exchange is , worked in comparative. silence'. in contrast;,' :io''. the former,.method.': -There; is no, rattling of;, shutters,' 'and.'aU the ,'oihef- noises that.'corii- : biried to: .harass the herves! of -the. operators are silenced for ever. In tho old exchange, eaohi operator .had-.0n1y;.a,-section of, subscribers . under her control, and when - a number ;was asked for outside her panel, she had to call across tho exchange to .another operator. That is obviated ,in the new system bv the fact that every number in the telephone list is within the reach of each operator,';a simple electrical device being.employed'to'prevent, a'multiplication of connections with the same number. In overy way .tho-.liiew.'syste'm'is a vast improvement on the -old one, arid when 'the service is made continuous, Timaru will-havq/the: finest telephono equipment in tho Dominion—until/the. Invercargill system,;/which /issimilarj'. is brought into use. .