DOMINION TELEPHONES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22860, 15 October 1937, Page 16

DOMINION TELEPHONES

INCREASING DOMESTIC USE SEVENTY'PER CENT IN HOMES The Dominion's telephone system continues to reflect the expansion in business throughout the country, as thera has been a gain of 3902 subscribers during the first five months of the current financial year, states a circular issued 'by the Post and Telegraph Department. Subscribers now total 142,042, an advance of 9394 connections compared with the corresponding date last year, and an improvement of 20,981 on the diminished list of subscribers in July, 1933, when the telephone lists reflected, in the reverse direction, the economic conditions then prevailing.

The increased domestic use of the telephone system was one of the most marked features of the increase. It has been taken for granted that <every business needs a telephone, with additional lines as it expands, but judging by the •development, residential telephones are now regarded, as equally essential. 11l the upward movement from the depression point the additional connections made to residences totalled over 15,000, which was more than three times the increase in the number of new business connections. In total strength also the residential telephones were more numerous. Taking the relative position of the two classes of subscribers, the business telephones accounted for 30 per cent and the domestic telephones for 70 per cent of the total connections in the Dominion.