AUTOMATIC TELEPHONES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16097, 10 December 1915, Page 5

AUTOMATIC TELEPHONES.

* SUBSCRIBERS' COMPLAINTS. Freqttent complaints are made by subscribers to the Auckland telephone system regarding defects in the automatic instruments. It is a source of great irritation that the latter are often out of order, the faults being attributable chiefly, it is believed, to the mechanism. The complaints in question were referred yesterday to an officer of the Telegraph and Telephone Department. He exI pressed the opinion that a number of them ■were due to false or hurried dialling on the part of some subscribers. He knew of instances in which persons desiring to call up a number inserted the finder in the zero orifice on the dial and earned it round to the numbers releasing it there. Tha right way was, of course, to insert the finger at each number ill turn and swing the dial round to the terminal point before releasing it. Zero should only be touched when the exchange was wanted. The chief defects in the automatic system were due to perforations in the overhead cables. The latter consisted of the usual series of wire in paper insulation encased in leaden pipes. When the pipes were perforated either by stones or pellets from pea-rifles, as sometimes happened, directly it rained the damp made its way in and caused contacts and other defects. As long as the pipes remained imperforated the cables were in good order. It was only a question of all cables being underground to i make the automatic system work well. There were minor defects liable to occur, said the official, such as the stacking of a selector,' or the fall of a wire, or contacts of the aerial leads from the \ cable- in the boisterous •weather. Men were always on the look-out for faults, and if subscribers would send in complaints at- once they could speedily i be rectified. As it was many complaints were held over for days, and often by the , time they were received the faults had disappeared. Confidence was expressed ' that when the new western electric auto- ; ma-tic system was installed, with the three • satellite exchanges, there would be no rea- , son for complaint. But for the war the necessary machinery and equipment would ' have been to band. In the meantime the ' Department was doing its best to main--1 tain the efficiency of the service. It had 1 been necessary to engage a number of new 1 telephone assistants lately to replace experts who had been removed to fill important positions, and if the pnbh'c would be patient and not flurry the attendants new to their work the latter would very 1 soon be efficient and ensure a good service.