CABLE SERVICE

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 36, 12 February 1936, Page 12

CABLE SERVICE

RECENT v DISTURBANCE

UNIQUE OCCURRENCE

Critical reference iri the South Island to Ihe state of the cable service to New. Zealand was referred to a responsible officer of the Post, and Telegraph Department today with a query, as vo whether any readjustments were contemplated by the Department. It was explained that the cable service was a privately-controlled institution, and that the Department had scarcely any. say in the matter. The question was raised at a recent meeting of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce by Mr. H. Kitson, who referred to the disturbance to communications caused by the recent storm in the North Island. tie declared tha. down there they were rather backward when they had to depend on "a more or less shaky line at the mercy of storms in the North Island." He contended that the present service gave Auckland a considerable start on the southern portion of the North Island and on th3 South Island in doing business with Australia' when the cable messages were held up. The departmental officer explained that with the' amalgamation of the Eastern Extension Cable Company and the Pacific Cable Company some years ago, the then existing cable connectiou at Wellington was not considered necessary, and ever since Auckland has been the sole connection for New Zealand. That connection, he stated, handled all the traffic very easily, and.there was no danger of congestion. ■ The Post and Telegraph Department had three alternate lines attached to the Auckland terminal, one line running down the west coast of the North Island, one down the east coast, and the third following the Main Trunk railway line. The effect of the recent storm was so extraordinarily widespread that all three lines, in spite of the wide distances that separated them from one another, suffered temporary' dislocation. It was a unique occurrence, and in his opinion hardly likely to happen a second time.