LONG DISTANCE CALL

Hokitika Guardian, 3 December 1932, Page 2

LONG DISTANCE CALL

NEW ZEALAND TO ENGLAND. (Per Press. Association Copyright.) CHRISTCHURCH, December 2. London is not very far from Christchurch—by telephone. From his room on . the top floo r of the United Service Hotel, Mr D. S. A. McDougall, an English visitor to ohristchu r ch, put through a telephone call to his homo in England. H e had to wait a short while before the connexion wa* made, but his experience provided a considerable contrast with the slowness of communication in the early davs of tho Canterbury settlement, when usually twelve months wer e taken between the writing of a letter to England and th e receipt of a reply. In spite of the great distance covered, both in the land wires from Christchurch to Wellington and from London to Buckinghamshire, and *n the short-wave radio transmission, the voices were comparatively clear. The first intimation that the connexion ha< , been made was when the operator at the hotel exchange heard an English postal official’s voice announcing “London calling.” Mr McDougall cou-d hear all that was -said to him more ( .l.oo r iy than he could himself b e heard in England, but the conversation was carried on without difficulty.