TELEPHONE MATERIAL

Greymouth Evening Star, 4 December 1940, Page 8

TELEPHONE MATERIAL

WAR CAUSES SHORTAGE [per press association.] WELLINGTON, December 4. Because of the present impossibility of obtaining equipment for the extension of the automatic telephone exchange in the Hutt Valley, only essential new connections can be made. A partial return has been made to the old manual system, worked in association with the automatic, but this expedient has also reached its practical working capacity. The difficulty is not restricted to the Hutt Valley, but there it is acute because of the phenomenal growth of population. The equipment for the Hutt exchange was, manufactured in London. Since then the manufacturers have closed the London factory, and concentrated operations at Antwerp. The outbreak of the war made impossible the fulfilment of orders for additional equipment. Sweden, the other greatest European supplier of telephonic equipment, is also virtually cut off from her former world markets. The Wellington city automatic exchanges have still some working margin, but suburban automatic sub-exchanges are already becoming congested.