TELEPHONE DEVELOPMENT.

Otago Witness, Issue 3881, 31 July 1928, Page 11

TELEPHONE DEVELOPMENT.

A VALUABLE REPORT.

RAPID IMPROVEMENTS POSSIBLE. WELLINGTON, July 27. An interesting and valuable report on telegraph and telephone engineering developments in Europe and America has been submitted by the chief' telegraph engineer (Mr A. Gibbs), who made a trip to Great Britain and other countries with a view to studying up-to-date methods. In the course of a lengthy statement Mr Gibbs says that he considers the rotary automatic telephone system adopted for the four principal and four of the smaller centres is fully competent to give the highest grade of automatic telephone service to the Dominions’ urban communities. It could be said on the whole that in many cases the New Zealand automatic installations compared more than favourably with those seen in other countries, and it could be predicted that the methods employed here would be reflected in efficient operation, reliable service and comparatively low cost of maintenance.

In reference to the application of automatic switching methods to the smaller telephone communities, Mr Gibbs finds that from the automatic standpoint the outstanding telephone engineering problem! In New Zealand, as in other countries, visited, is to render available to the smaller communities the undoubted benefits of ■•automatic methods. These advantages are well recognised and are along the lines of uniformly quick and reliable service at all hours of the day or night irrespective of holidays and other similar conditions, secrecy of conversation, quick disconnection, and reconnection to another subscriber, and a general high grade of service. These advantages are more fully appreciated at the small exchanges, where it is not economical to provide a high grade of manual service during 2< hours of the day. There are already installed in the small exchanges in New Zealand, consisting of only a few hundred lines, automatic switching apparatus which iheets all the above conditions, including the automatic operation of 10 party rural lines, but the difficulty has been to “ prove in ” this system on economic grounds. This difficulty is not peculiar to New Zealand, and was discussed frankly with Mr Gibbs by manufacturers of such equipment, who were very pleased to be able to obtain first-hand information as to the conditions obtaining in New Zealand, and the modifications considered desirable to enable automatic switching to fulfil the requirements of such situations. Certain manufacturers had already seriously addressed themselves to this problem, and a good deal of developmental work had already been done. By discussing the matter at this stage manufacturers were able to gain a clearer idea of the conditions which it was desired to meet in our rural communities, and on the • other hand Mr Gibbs was able to obtain first-hand information as to the extent to which these demands could be met at the present stage of the art. New Zealand is in certain respects ideally situated for the extension of automatic switching into its country districts by reason of the fact that a number of strategic centres are already equipped with automatic apparatus. These could serve as parent exchanges, and exercise the necessary supervision and maintenance ovei’ smaller equipments in surrounding districts, thereby considerably reducing the costs of operation and maintenance. Mr Gibbs writes that after reviewing the most efficient telephone systems of the world he feels compelled to observe that the art of telephone communication is not yet finalised. The transmission of speech over long distances, both by wire and by radio, the use of thermionic repeaters, and of radio , frequency methods,»generally have introduced many changes into telephone technique. It will ,be some time before these changes •become stabilised. Rapid improvements in regard to distance of transmission are possible to a progressive and financially healthy organisation, and it may well be expected that within a comparatively brief period international and transoceanic telephony will become general.