THE TELEPHONE SERVICE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18325, 16 August 1921, Page 6

THE TELEPHONE SERVICE

INSTRUMENTS IN USE. AN ENORMOUS INCREASE. (Feom Oub Own Cobbespondbnt.) •AUCKLAND, August 15. The increase in the use of telephones in New Zealand was the subject of a statement by the Postmaster-general (the Hon. J. G. Coates), who stated that two records had been established by his department during the past two years. Mr Coates said that in 1919 a maximum number of 6000 telephones were installed, but during the last two years 16,000, or 8000 a year, had been linked up. “As a matter of fact,” said the Minister, “this year the number will bo well over 8000, ns the waiting subscribers already exceed this total. Last year we spent approximately oyer £400,000 out of the telegraph vote; this includes, of course, the cost of telegraph and telephone apparatus. The difficulty is to get the 8000 people waiting for telephones connected up. We would want about £900,000 to meet all the demands on the service.” Mr Coates said that the number of telephones in use and on order is now approaching 1,000,000. The department was working at full pressure, and was doing the maximum amount of development with the money at its disposal. Every particle of material in the country is being utilised, and improvising was being indulged in to a dangerous extent. In other words, every effort was being made to meet an extraordinary demand. It was interesting to know th{vt, instead of decreasing, the applications for telephones were increasing at an alarming rate, notwithstanding the difficult period through which (he dominion was passing. “The plain fact of the matter,” said Mr Coates, “is that demands for telephones are swamping us, but in spite of the crowding the department has risen to the occasion.”