NEW PHONE NUMBER

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 92, 12 January 1939, Page 5

NEW PHONE NUMBER

Wellington Free Ambulance

As from February 1 the Wellington Free Ambulance station in Jervois Quay will have a new telephone number, 55-905. - The change has been necessitated by the similarity of the present number, 55-044, to that of a taxi company, 54-044. When the Free Ambulance board met on December 14 the inconvenience caused by the similarity of the numbers was referred to by the president, Sir Charles Norwood, who said there had been no reply to a complaint made to the acting-chief telegraph engineer. Dozens of calls came to the Free Ambulance during the day, he said, which were meant for the taxi company, and the staff were often awakened by night calls for taxis. , The superintendent, Mr. F. Roffe, said yesterday that the department’s decision was in response to a second letter sent to the Director-General. The board did not wish: the number changed, as it was widely known and the public service performed by the organization gave it a standing at least equal to that of trading concerns. He referred to the large number of mistaken calls each day, remarking that even taxi drivers often found themselves speaking to the Free Ambulance. However, the department took the view that the taxi company had not committed any breach to justify the alteration of its number, so that the board had no option'but to accept a change. It would be the second alteration, the first having been made some years ago when the telephone system was transferred to Courtenay Place.