GREEN ISLAND AFFAIRS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23055, 4 December 1936, Page 19

GREEN ISLAND AFFAIRS

POSTAL FACILITIES AND TELEPHONE CHARGES DEPUTATION TO POSTMASTERGENERAL A deputation consisting of Messrs T. M. M'Ahan (Mayor of Green Island) and A. L. Burk (clerk) waited on Mr F. Jones, Postmastergeneral and Minister of Defence, yesterday to ventilate certain postal and telephone matters affecting the district. The deputation was introduced by Mr A. Campbell, the member for Chalmers.

Mr M'Ahan said that this was the first occasion on which he had met Mr Jones since his appointment to Ministerial rank, and he desired to congratulate him. Mr M'Ahan said that his first point related to an afternoon delivery of letters. Green Island used to have an afternoon delivery in a portion of the district, and they thought that this delivery should be reinstated. The delivery might cover a radius of half a mile from the post office. The second matter concerned the high telephone charges in the district, both for businesses and residents. Business people had to pay £23, £25 and £2B a year, and the charges for residential telephones, particularly on the party-wire system, were also high Mr M'Ahan said that where one user on a party-wire system dropped out, the onus of securing another user should not rest on those continuing to use the service. At the present time, if a user dropped out, those remaining on the partv wire had to bear the whole charge. Mr M'Ahan agreed that, considering the population of Green Island, there should be more telephones in use than there were, but this position was probably due to the high charges. Mr Burk said that the population of Green Island was about 2500, and there were 500 or 600 houses in the district. The number of people using telephones was small, and it would appear that the charges might have something to do with this state of affairs.

The Minister, in replying, said he took it that the reason why the afternoon delivery of letters had been cut out was the few letters to be delivered. He ■ would consult with the officer in charge of the department and see whether an afternoon delivery was warranted. In regard to the telephone charges, Mr Jones said that the question of extending the base area, and the inclusion of Green Island in it, was at present under consideration. There were only 94 subscribers at present in Green Island, and a fair number used the party wire. They had equipment there which would enable them to cope with an increased number of subscribers without any difficulty. If they did include Green Island in the base area, they were going to make a distinct loss, but they desired to increase the number of subscribers, and that would compensate for what they might lose in revenue. He would go into the matter immediately on his return to Wellington.

Mr Jones said he noticed in a report of a meeting of the Green Island Council that it was taking up the question of housing. If more people came to live in Green Island more telephones would be needed, and the postal service would also be benefited. He added that if the base rate area were extended that would bring slot telephones in at the penny rate.