RADIO-TELEPHONY

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 70, 19 September 1936, Page 10

RADIO-TELEPHONY

MERCHANT SERVICE GUILD'S

INTEREST Because of its efforts to obtain a ship-to-shore radio telephone service in New Zealand waters, the Merchant Service Guild is exceedingly gratified with the introduction of such a service to and from,the Awatea, and last night its secretary, Captain F. A. Macindoe, made the first call to the ship,'talking with Mr. ir. !"!. Falla, who is on board. "We as a guild have been advocating telephones on all ships for some time," said Captain Macindoe today, "and in conference with the Post and Telegraph Department and the shipping ,companies the Department said that/when the Union Company equipped five of their ships with radio telephony it would provide the necessary shore facilities for communication. Consequently, the guild was very pleased with the, announcement that the Awatea was equipped with this useful service."

Partly to show the guild's appreciation and also to be the first to communicate with the Awatea through the new service, 'Captain Macindoe last night rang Mr. Falla and conducted a four-minute conversation with him. Captain Macindoe asked that the call be .recorded in the ship's log book in the usual' way, giving longitude and latitude at the time, and he expressed the.hope that the time was not far distant when a television service would be in operation. Instancing the need for the extension of the radio telephone service, Captain Macindoe said that the Echo, the Breeze, and the Matangi were all equipped for such a service, but were unable to take advantage of it because of the lack of necessary shore facilities.