TELEPHONES FOR FARMERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14427, 21 July 1910, Page 7

TELEPHONES FOR FARMERS.

GOVERNMENT AID AT LAST.

The statement by the Prime Minister in the Financial Statement that he will ask for a vote "for the purpose of giving assistance to settlers who desire to construct private telephone lines to connect with the nearest Government office," marks a distinct step in advance, for hitherto the Government has declined to give such assistance. Though the amount of the assistance to be offered is not yet disclosed, the affirmation of the principle (which the last Agricultural Conference decided to bring under the notice of the Government) is . important.

One of the most consistent and strenuous advocates of the principle that the Government should extend telephone facilities to farmers has been Mr. Edwin Hall, secretary of the Auckland Agricultural and Pastoral Association. Some time ago Mr. Hall made a report to the association, in which reference was made to some remarks that had been uttered about that time by Sir Joseph- Ward. Sir Joseph had said that it was "simply impossible" for the Government to provide all the telephones asked for by country settlers, and that , a prominent United States official had testified that the United States' Government, though, one of the wealthiest in the world, could not supply a tithe of the telephones demanded by the people. Mr. Hall, however, brought to light, and embodied in his report, the following details of what was being done in America :—The Bell Telephone Company were providing the farmers with telephones (worth 37s 6d) for 6d per week (six dollars a year). The farmers carried and maintained the wires from their houses to the city limits. The Bell Company carried the wires from the city limits to the exchange, paid the operators, provided the farmers with a telephone, and kept in repair for six dollars (255) a year. Taking the charges of 75 companies ip America, they ranged from one dollar to 24 dollars a year, and averaged 13 dollars a year, or about Is a week. In view of what is being done in America, Mr. Hall is convinced that telephones could be provided for the farmers in New Zealand at a cost that would be within the reach of the small settler. It has been pointed out by Mr. W. C Buchanan, M.P., that settlers in' the Waivarapa have, on their own initiative, gone in extensively for private lines, the total erected and controlled by them beincr about 2000 miles. * ■ ' °