TELEGRAPH WORK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22909, 11 December 1937, Page 18

TELEGRAPH WORK

DECADE OF CHANGE USE OF TELEPRINTERS TRAINING GREATLY SIMPLIFIED Tho introduction of a teleprinter service between the Auckland and ellington railway stations brings tho department into line with the latest developments in telegraphic communication. Teleprinters have been used by the Post and Telegraph" Department for a considerable time, but their introduction by tho Railway Department is more in the nature of an experiment. The railway service lias to contend with technical difficulties not experienced by tlie Post and Telegraph Department, and the apparatus is being carefully testedWriting in one of the, informative "green papers'-' published by the British Post Office, Mr. A. P. Ogilvie, assistant controller of the Central ielegraph Office, states that a decade of change in telegraph equipment has transformed the training of a telegraphist from a laborious process, involving months of repetitive practice, to a simple uniform system in which the acquisition of .a high degree of manipulative skill on the telegraph type-keyboard forms the basis. Morse Training Discontinued " Training in-morse sounder and in Whentstone and multiplex systems has now been discontinued in the British inland telegraph service," writes Mr. Ogilvie. "Instead, tho learner is taught to" operate the teleprinter keyboard entirely on the touch system, using all the fingers on. both hands, and to sit erect and comfortable while at work." The gumming of tape, on which received telegrams are printed, to telegram blanks correctly and neatly, is also practised, until the facility for dealing with high output is gained. As a result, the present day teleprinter learner after five months of instruction is capable of handling nearly three times the the number of telegrams a good morse learner could be expected to dispose of with more, rather than less, training. High Standard In Dominion

" Modern practice in the transmission and reception of telegrams bears little resemblance to the procedure ot the morse era," states Mr. 9pl v "The processes have been simplified to ensure accuracy and speed. It is possible, therefore, to concentrate the attention of the learner not only on the acquisition of manipulative skill, but of a sound knowledge of service, organisation, rules and regulations. Those with any detailed knowledge of the procedure employed by the Post and Telegraph Department in New Zea land are agreed that it is up to the high standard maintained in Britain and advocated by British postal authorities.