THE BOOK OF NUMBERS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19799, 26 May 1926, Page 15

THE BOOK OF NUMBERS.

LONDON’S TELEPHONE SYSTEM. REVISION OF DIRECTORY. Although she is responsible for the compilation of London’s Telephone Directory, Miss Newport, who presides over a staff of girls at the telephone headquarters at Cornwall House, is not “on the telephone.” “1 like to get away from the telephone after office hours,’’ she said in a recent interview, “as I am working wi'.-i it all day long. Miss Newport, tall and unshingled, sits all day in a small room adjoining a larger room full of girls. She disclaims tho title of editor, or editress, she is simply the head of a department. _ On her table are piles of papers containing hundreds dt numbers, names, and addresses. Wheh interviewed late in March she was examining advance copies of the April issue of the Directo r'. “No, I am not at all oerturbed by the vast numbers of alterations I have to make for each, new edition, for 1 put great reliance in my staff,” she told the visitor. “Since October, vhen the last edition was issued, we have had over 50.000 alterations —quite apart from the added ‘noughts to numbers of less than four digits. There are altered numbers changed addresses, and new subscribers and 1 o forth. COMING AUTOMATIC EXCHANG'D 15 . “We have to see that the printers add the ‘noughts’ in the right places. These changes have been necessary to make the numbers fit in with the first automatic exchanges to be opened at the end of the year. In this way we shall give people plenty of time to get used to tho change. And they want it, too, I can assure you. “There is no one so conservative as the telephone subscriber, and the slightest alteration will quil£ put him off his balance for a time. T get. all sorts of quaint suggestions from users of the directory. Those who read the preface—and by the mistakes made, there are many who Go—write in sometimes t, compla! i about the grammatical construction of a sentence, or to suggest that we put a fact more clearly. . .. , r “Then we have bad a number ot complaints about onr method of abbreviating names in the addros- column. It may be annoying, but it is absolutely necessary, unless we are to make the bonk quite unwieldy. As it is, it weighs over four pounds, and contains more than IJOff pages. Tho most amusing complaint was about an artistic soap advertisement. _in which a bath and a woman were depicted. t>omeone wrote us a verv severe letter. “We do not get complaints only, for many kind people send ue congratulatory letters saving what a wonderful piece of work tho djjeo'yrv is. lam very grateful to them. . “We have introduced no new advice on the top of the pages this time, but we still give prominence to ‘Do not snv “Hello ! Quite a lot of peonle havg written to ask why we object to ‘Hello!’ It is not, that we ohiect out that It Is such a waste of time for two people to spend valuable seconds in saying ‘Hello!’ to enr-b otner. “Tbe idee' onbsnriber answers his ’phono by saving, ‘T am f-o and f-o.’ then no time is wasted. During the busv hours in the city every second counts, and if people would regard o”T advice there would be fewer engaged signals.’