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Otago Witness, Issue 3912, 5 March 1929, Page 7

A small instrument in use in the Pacific Cable Board’s station at Suva is a forcible example of the manner in which mechanical appliances are eliminating man-power and reducing working costs. Suva is a relay station on the Pacific cable system, and up to a short time ago the messages were relayed there by hand to Sydney or to Bamfield. Now the relaying is done mechanically. During the day breaks in the stream of Australia and Canada-bound _ messages are occasioned by the necessity for taking despatches for Fiji, and as a constant watch is not required on the mechanical relay, an alarm system has been devised for calling the attention of the station staff to the fact that there is an island message coming. The installation of the mechanical relay and alarm have enabled the board to reduce the staff on the island from 30 to 15-