TOLL CHARGES

Evening Star, Issue 22336, 12 May 1936, Page 1

TOLL CHARGES

N.Z. RATES IN CONTRAST WITH BRITAIN'S “ Decent cables from London announce a further reduction which is being made by the British PostmasterGeneral in the rates charged for telephone toll calls,” stated the Post-master-General (Hon. F. Jones') in an interview. ‘‘ They mark,” lie continued, “ a further stage in the progressive policy of the British postal administration in popularising the telephone, and this development is not without interest to New Zealand. “ From the full details of the new scales which are now available I find much that will be reassuring to our own telephone subscribers, because they have enjoyed for a long period nearly all the advantages which the British telephone user is now about to receive. From our own experience British Post Office enterprise will meet its reward in lower cost of telephone use, resulting in a rapid expansion of business. Such a policy has placed New Zealand third in the world for percentage of telephones to total population, compared with Britain, which is ninth. “ New Zealand has reached its high position among the telephone-using countries of the world despite the fact that it does not possess many large centres of population fairly close together, giving sufficient business to warrant the laying of underground telephone cables between these points. In New Zealand we have to be content with aerial wires between towns and cities, and in only a comparatively few cases are these wires sufficiently utilised by the public in the way of heavy and constant traffic - to justify a direct; connection. Hence in a largo number of cases toll calls have to be ‘built up ’ through one or more switching exchanges, each taking a part in building up the call. Direct lines between cities are economical only when the traffic s sufficient to occupy the lines for most of the day, and in all other cases a call is ‘ built up ’ as already mentioned. “ Notwithstanding the recent reduction in Great Britain,” continued the Postmaster-General, “ the New Zealand rates are still very favourable in contrast. Exact comparisons, rate f-r rate, are difficult, owing to the fact that in Great Britain there are three classes of rate: full, intermediate, and night. Our charges, which do not exactly correspond, are full, half, and quarter rates. However, a fair basis of comparison is that of the rates current during the day, and this discloses that the New Zealand Post Office ii keeping its charges well within reason.

This survey shews that New Zealand telephone users are substantially better off up to the 100-mile limit, and that for communications up to 150 miles they are still as well off as the British telephone subscribers will be under the new scheme, which brings into operation charges long current In the Dominion.' For 200 miles or over the rates are more favourable to the English user, but it would be uneconomic to reduce our own charges to that level owing to the lack of that continuous and heavy traffic which makes it possible in densely-populated countries to have direct communication between all the important points, instead of the more expensive method of intermediate handling, which most effectively serves the’ requirements of the Dominion.”

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