THE WRONG TARGET

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 28 February 1939, Page 4

THE WRONG TARGET

TELEGRAPH INSULATORS DESTROYED SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES POSSIBLE The wilful destruction of insulators on telegraph and telephone lines in New Zealand is a cause of serious loss to the Post Office. Replacement of approximately 5000 damaged insulators every year means expense; but the more serious aspect is the danger of interference with important communications. The efficiency of the telegraph and telephone lines depends chiefly on the maintenance of a complete circuit for the electric currents, but if insulators are smashed the circuit is either greatly reduced in efficiency or breaks down altogether. This may happen at a time when messages of the greatest importance even involving human safety are passing over the wires. Many prosecutions for wilful destruction of these important links in the communication chain take place every year and the great majority of the delinquents are juveniles, therefore a timely word of advice by parents that their children should not use the telegraph lines as a test of marksmanship would be officially appreciated. One of the interesting things about the annual record of damage in this respect is that it is greatest where there are long lengths of macadam road. The great improvement of the highways by the provision of bitumen and concrete surfaces has reduced the quantity of material at the disposal of those who are tempted to make a target of the insulator, so that it is not only the motorist who has received the benefit from road improvements Despite reduced supplies of material for the stone thrower, the amount "of damage caused through thoughtlesness and mischief continues to be substantial and the consequences are becoming more serious owing to increased efficiency of the lines. The introduction of high frequency currents for operating telegraph and telephone circuits has enabled a single pair of wires to be loaded with as many as 27 channels of communication either by morse or speech, consequently any interference with the insulation properties of the basic pair of wires is much more serious in its results than in the days when a pair of wires carried only one or two sets of messages.