Branch Telephone Office.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume VII, Issue 275, 26 September 1896, Page 4

Branch Telephone Office.

As our readers are aware

a petition was recently forwarded to the Post Office and Telegraph De-

partment, Wellington, largely signed by the residents of the 0 dnemuri township, asking for the establishing of? a telephone office for the receipt and forwarding of telegrams; at MiV'O. B; Gentil's shop, opposite the Rpyal Mail Hotel. This •ite was selected as being the busiest spot in the whole of Paeroa, where all passengers by train, steamers, and coaches pass, and from whence all the coaches for Waihi, Thames, Te Aroha, Karangahake, and Waitekauri start. The very great conrenionce which such an office would be, not only to residents in the township but also to the travelling public, wai pointed out in the petition, which w« may state wa« signed not only by residents but also by a number of gentlemen who happened at the time to be passiag through Paeroa, among them being the Hon. Captain Morris who fully concurred in the request. This petition reached Wellington on the 19th inst., and on the 23rd the following telegram wai received from the Hon. A. J. Cadman: —"Petition only just armed in Wellington, and the Chief Postmaster, Auckland, recommends that the r«c«iTing office be placed on the Bailway Station so that it may be in charge of a Government officer, but the matter has not yet been definitely decided." A telegram has been sent in reply pointing out that a telephone office at the Eailway Station would not in any way meet the requirements of the petitioners, 1 as it would be almost the same distance to go to the general post office as to the railway station, and consequently there would be no saving of time nor convenience afforded by having the receiving office at the station. The Chief Postmaster, Auckland, by his recommendation, evidently is in favor of the request being granted, but we feel sure that were he to refer the matter to Mr Brown, our postmasUr, ag to which of the two localities would be the best, his decision would be in favor of that stated in the petition.