THOSE ’PHONE CHARGES

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11656, 22 October 1923, Page 5

THOSE ’PHONE CHARGES

VIEWS OF P. AND T. ENGINEER. LOWEST IN THE WORLD. Speaking on the subject of the inoreased telephone charges, whioh have been the subject of vaned criticism all over tho Dominion, Mr A. Shrimpton, chief P. and T. engineer, states that he hod seen a great deal about the increases, but those loudest in their condemnation seemed to have overlooked the fact that very substantial reduotions had also been made. For instance, subscribers over the two-mile radius were now charged only £8 10s against £l2, or op to £l6 under the old scale. As far as town subscribers were concerned, it aleo must not be forgotten that the rates were the lowest in the world. In Australia tho charges were double, and it cost 2d for each connection. As a .comparison of the Australian and Neiw Zealand rates, Mr Shrimpton said that a Wellington business nan recently- showed him his account for his office and residential connection, which amounted to £24 12s. He then produced a bill for £49 3s, which had been charged him in Adelaide for exactly the same time and period. TABLE ’PHONES. On the subject of the new. rates on table telephones, Mr Shrimpton considered the department was fully justified in increasing the charge* for their use, as they cost SO per cent, more to install, and were 200 per cent, more oo6tly to maintain than the wall variety. They were also more liable to damage, and the large cords, which oost 18s each, also proved a costly item. In New York the extra charge for table telephones worked out at 25s per annum. It had been argued that subscribers in the larger oentres were being charged extra in order that those in smaller places could have their telephones at cheaper rates, but to this Mr Shrimpton replied that it had to be remembered that a business man in Dunedin had a range of about 5000 subscribers, while a subscriber in Oamaru, for instance, had a range of only 600. The economic axiom that the bigger the return the less the price applied to everything but telephones, tie added, and if subscribers inoreased four times the cost would he sixteen times greater. The switchboard arrangement for 200 subscribers was a very simple matter, but with 5000 it was a very different thing, as thirty or forty places had to be provided where a call could be received and answered.