EXPERT IN TELEPHONY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 4414, 6 November 1934, Page 4

EXPERT IN TELEPHONY.

ENGLISH WOMAN’S RECORD The woman who in 1916 handled the message that brought the news of the first Zeppelin raid over London now supervises the telephone calls of nearly 2000 guests daily at a London hotel. She is Miss Edith Sanderson, who has been appointed supervisor of the new telephone exchange at the Regent Palace Hotel. This exchange was necessitated by the enlargement of the hotel to accommodate over 200 additional guests and the installation of telephones in every bedroom. It was while Miss Sanderson, then a girl of 17, was stationed at Immingham, on the east coast, in 1916 that the terse message came over the telephone, “Zeppelins headed for the coast of England have crossed the German border.” She calmly supervised the feverish activities of 40 who were warning Britain that the Germans had crossed the North Sea for their first aerial attack on London. Admiral Sir David Beatty—now Earl Beatty—himself presented Miss Sanderson with the 0.8. E. on behalf of the King. Another war-time incident Miss Sandersop recalls was receiving the message, “A German submarine inside the River Humber.” The Humber hummed with naval activity. At its mouth was a boom defence. This defence was opened only between sunrise and sunset, and then on the wireless instructions of a high naval officer. A German submarine had crept through in the wake of a British naval ship and had then submerged. She came to the surface and Britain’s war dogs were unleashed. Until the submarine was captured, Miss Sanderson says, she sat with the headphones on in tense excitement. Afterwards there came the news of the capture and the “all clear,” and she breath-

ed quietly again. Wlien the prisoners were brought ashore Miss Sanderson tells how she was one of the first to see them. She confessed to feeling happy that after all their extreme daring there was no loss of life.