TELEPHONE SERVICE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22368, 15 September 1934, Page 7

TELEPHONE SERVICE

DOWNWARD TREND ARRESTED MANY NEW SUBSCRIBERS (From Cue Parliamentary Reporter); WELLINGTON, September 14, , The downward trend in the telephone development ofi the Dominion has been arrested, according to the annual report of the Post and Telegraph Department tabled in the House of Representatives this morning. It is stated that the net loss in the telephone-exchange subscriber* for the year under review was only one-' seventh of the loss for the preceding year, • and this, coupled with the fact that the figures for the past few months had all shown gains in the telephone-exchange subscribers, was an indication that th« telephone business in the Dominion had 1 definitely turned the corner. It was ■ anticipated that when the momentum of the general recovei’y was, increased a very : large number of subscribers who had relinquished the service would again re-' quire the benefits of the telephone service. New Zealand still retained; third place among the countries of the world , for the number of telephones jn use per! 100 of the population. The latest avail-; able statistics showed that the United States was first with 13.94 telephones per’ 100 of population, Canada second with 11.98, and New Zealand third with 10.12. Australia was seventh with 7.40 and Britain was ninth with 4.62.

The drop in telephones during the years ‘ of depression had been much more marked ■ in the United States and Canada than ' in New Zealand. In the two former countries the decrease had been approximately two telephones "per 100 of population, whereas in New, Zealand the de-. crease has been about one, telephone per ’ 1000 of population.