“HOLD THE LINE, PLEASE!”

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12963, 30 May 1935, Page 3

“HOLD THE LINE, PLEASE!”

About 37 per cent, of the total number of telephones in Britain are operated automatically, and the British Post Office recently announced that it hopes to serve the whole London area in this way by 1942. Automatic operation of telephones lias made rapid strides in New Zealand, and to-day 53 per cent, have been converted to this system. There has also been a development of automatic operation which greatly facilitates toll connections between certain classes of exchange. At the ma joiiity of exchanges which are connected by direct circuit with automatic exchanges, it is possible, when a subscriber wishes to talk with another in a distant town, for the toll operator who takes his instruction to dial the called subscriber direct. The intervention of an operator at the distant exchange is not necessary, for the impulses from the dial at the calling exchange cause the toll line to bo automatically connected to the wanted subscriber’s telephone in exactly the same way as when one automatic exchange subscriber does liis own calling in the same town. This is one of thq reasons why, when a toll connection is wanted, the caller is frequently requested to “Hold the line, please’’ instead of having to wait for some indefinite t*mo before getting into touch with the individual with whom he wishes to speak.