MODERN BUSINESS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22710, 24 October 1935, Page 7

MODERN BUSINESS

TELEPHONE CALL TO LONDON FOR 37 MINUTES "Hello, hello! Wellington? This la London calling for Mr Haines. Are you ready, Mr Wix?" Two telephone exchange operators sitting at switchboards, 14,000 miles apart, plugged in their keys and lini<cd up Mr A. Wix, proprietor of the du Manner Cigarette Company, in his office in London, with Mr Harold E. Haines, New Zealand representative of the company, in a Wellington hotel. In a few seconds (says the Dominion) a conversation, conducted as casually as one between Wellington offices a few miles apart, was taking place across 14,000 miles of land and water by radio telephone. The call was timed for reception at 8.45 p.m., in Wellington, while the early morning sun was jilst beginning to filter through the windows of the company's head office in London. Sitting at a table with an ordinary telephone receiver, Mr Haines discussed business questions with his chief executive officer in London, while a stenographer, with the assistance of a pair of headphones, recorded the conversation. For 37 minutes London and Wellington were in direct speaking communication, with the telephone bill running into double figures. " The reception," said Mr Haines afterwards, " was fairly good, although there was some interference caused by atmospherics. The main thing, however, was that I was able to consult my chief in a few minutes, whereas, if I had hud to go to see him, I wMild have taKen a month or more."