AUTOMATIC TELEPHONES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18077, 29 April 1922, Page 10

AUTOMATIC TELEPHONES.

— ♦ EXPLANATION OF DEFECTS. NEW PLANT TO BE INSTALLED. In connection with the complaints- about ihe unsatisfactory working of the auto-; matic telephone L" tia city a Herald reporter U3t£rvjewe<l the district telegraph engineer who states that the- automatic plant at present operating in conjunction wfth the manual exchange in is not part of the new automatic equipnwtit now being installed. The whole o! the Auckland Exchange plant both manual and automatic is being replaced by new apparatus in the new wuhaages. at WeUesley Street, Remuera, Mount Eden and Ponsonby. As this new sj'siem is entirely different from the automatic! apparatus at present in use, no portion of it can be utilised until the whole plant is ready to be put into service, and entirely replace* the existing automatio and manual plants. To attempt to use a portion of this new apparatus would mean the complication of interconnecting three different systems. The installation of the new plant involves the fitting of a large quantity of intricate apparatus at the lour new exchanges, and the .Tinning and connecting up of many miles of cables. Each of the 8000 subscribers is now connected by an individual pair of wires to the Shortland Street Lxchange, And new wires will have to be provided to one of the new exchanges •without disturbing the existing connection. The department is proceeding with these ■works as expeditiously as the circumstances permit, but a very large amount of •work remains to be done before the date of the cut-over can be fixed. The department will then be in a position to give a first class telephone service to existing subscribers, and also to the applicants now awaiting connections. The same system is working very satisfactorily and giving excellent service at Hamilton, Masterton, Blenheim, Oamaru and Wellington. Failures in the present plant are due to the interconnection of manual and automatic systems, old outside plant which is being replaced in the new system and congestion of the exchange due to the high calling rate. Auckland has only 63 telephones per thousand of the population as compared with Wellington's 96 per thousand. This, coupled with the climatic conditions and the more scattered nature of the city, results in an exceptionally high calling rate which is at times in excess of the carrving capacity of the apparatus. The department is making every effort to give as good service &s_is possible during the transition period. The difficulties that now arise are ir-oro caused hv the exigencies of the Prf-sent circumstances than by any neglect a? trie officers in the department.