TELEPHONE PROGRESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18742, 23 June 1924, Page 8

TELEPHONE PROGRESS.

■>•>- v.,,.'.- is ■■;■?-...■ ~ rV- . , /.''' ."•: INTER-ISLAND CONNECTION.

CABLE ACROSS COOK STRAIT.

DOMINION- WIDE • FACILITIES.

"D 7 TEI,EGEAPH.— ', COBRESPONDENT.] -'.:?-: NEjf PLYMOUTH; Sunday.';

, An announcement 'that the Government intends to lay a submarine cable across Cook Strait for the purpose, of giving telephone communication between the two islands was made by the : PostmasterGeneral, the Hon. J, G. Coates, at a public banquet tendered to him at ■; ; Stratford.

The ideal of the Post and Telegraph Department, : the ; Minister ; said, was that every person in the Dominion should have facilities for communication by telephone, with any other person in the Dominion, that he should be able : to get into communication with persons within a reasonable; time, and when connected should enjoy, reasonable speech. With that end in view, provision was being made for the purchase and laying of a submarine cable across Coot Strait for the purpose of providing telephone communication : between the North and South Islands. The cable the department had in ; view was of the four-core continuously loaded type so designed as to .provide three telephone and four • telegraph channels. Arrangements were also being made to obtain the latest type of thermionic valve repeaters for use in conjunction with the submarine cable. The installation of this cable and the extended use of. these repeaters would make it practicable for telephone: communication to be provided between any two parts of New Zealand. The telegraph engineer, Mr. .. Shrimpton, said that with . the use of the thermionic valves , speech from the North Cape to the Bluff would ;; be heard more plainly than speech between Taranaki and Auckland at the present time. - ;'• ' .. ■ ' ■» ; -Back-bone of Toll Lines. ' ' Speaking more generally regarding the telephone service, Mr.". Coates said it wasnecessary to put into the system a backbone of toll lines . sufficient to carry the business offering-between the exchanges. That this matter had been given very careful ' attention in Taranaki was evidenced by the fact that during recent months, toU ; facilities had been provided whereby Stratford and other Taranaki towns could ~ obtain telephone communication at any time of the day or night with all the larger towns in the Auckland and Wellington districts. . , • , The . installing of : automatic telephones was also referred to, the Minister stating that while there had been a good deal of controversy it had been at last decided by Great Britain that the automatic system was the best. ;■'•■■ The advantage was that in the smaller ] exchanges continuous service could be given without an increase in the cost. New Zealand had not quite reached the stage in which , the system' could be put into complete operation, but some installations were already in and others were under way. Tenders for the installation of the automatic system for Stratford would close next month, provision being made for 1400 connections with adequate; scope for extension. .: i; , ■■■ ■■.■':■■■■■■.■' - ' - ,':'■:.•''' ■'':'" : Users Rapidly Increasing. .

The people ,of New Zealand were fast acquiring the. telephone habit, said ; Mr. Coates. As indicating the growth in the telephone exchange' system during the financial year ended March ■ 31, he mentioned that 11,135 new connections had been made, a number not exceeded in any previous year. : Comparing the figures of 1019 with those of 1923 the number of telephone connections in New Zetland snowed an increase from 72,561 to 106,764, a percentage increase of 47. . '._--;•