PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, APRIL 29. 1907 TELEPHONE RATES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10958, 29 April 1907, Page 2

PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, APRIL 29. 1907 TELEPHONE RATES.

We have pleasure m supporting the request that is being made by the Gis-; borne branch of the Farmers' Union for an all-day telephone service on Sunday. In fact,, it is our opinion that the tystem at Gisborne should be made continuous, as at most other large centres of population, though we would strongly protest against the community oemg mulct m the additional annual charge of £2 for this concession, which the Department m its sterotyped reply to the above-mentioned request is sure to insist upon. The charge is irrational and uncalled for. It is levied upon business establishments, which it cannot be pretended would derive any advantage by the extension of hours from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. Nor is the amount of service performed and cost entailed to the Department at all comniensurate /with the increase of subscription from £5 to £7 per annuni; The number of subscribers to the Gisborne exchange is about 450, arid is increasing every week. Of these probably 200 are business connections, which under the regulation charge for a continuous service would give an increase of £400 per annum to the Department. We do not believe that it would cost anything^ like that amount to provide the increased attendance necessary for a24 hours' service. The Department is drawing an enormous itvenue from telephone holders m this dis trict, where m proportion to the population, this branch of the Post and Telegraph Department is made much greater use of than m any other district m the colony, and as the policy of. this De- ] partment of State m its various services should be not to seek to set aside huge ; profits but to afford the public the greatfacilities for communication at the low- J est cost, we believe the time has arrived for the public to insist upon a revision j of the telephone regulations and scale j of charges, at any rate so far as they I apply to a district where the telephone ' is so well patronised as it is at Gisborne. We have always been politely informed when pressing for reductions of fees m j the past that the New Zealand telephone service is one of the cheapest m the world, but that boast can hardly be i sustained m view of the new tariff which i has just been introduced by the Com- : monwealth Government, to whjch we would direct the attention of the autho- . rities m New Zealand. In towns with a ' population of under 10,000 the Common-! wealth will provide a radius of network with the main exchange as a centre of 5 miles, and the annual -charge for an ex- ' I elusive service is only £4, whilst for each subscriber or instrument on a two- ! party service the fee is £3, or for each subscriber or instrument on a three or more party ■service £2 10s. For these charges lOuO calls half-yearly are alloy- ! Ed, and additional calls are charged at rates varying from one halfpenny to a,; farthing each. It will' be noted that ] where there- are two or more subscribers* on a line the Commonwealth Government gives a reduction of" rates. liiNewZea-j land the practice is to charge each sub- j scriber the full £5. Thus m the case of j the wire to Tahora, to which there aie! ten or twelve subscribers, the Department collects a r«**nuo of £50 or £60, J lliough the only service it perform* is ' to run a wire one mile from the Gia- ' borne exchange, and to answer the -alls on the wire, which are probably no greater hi number than from any^busi-

ness establishment m town. This cumulative charge for a single wire is nothing t short of outrageous, and is an instance of ( the manner m which the Department s "encourages" distant country subscribers who have had the enterprise to run their private wires 40 and 60 miles to town. In the Commonwealth m country towns ( exchanges are opened for two or more subscribers, exclusive, services constructed entirely by the department are obtainable within small townships for £4 pnr annum, or party-line service as low as £2 10s, while for farmers' lines (lines ex. tending beyond town boundaries, and constructed partly by the department and partly by the users) even lower rates are offered, so that by five or six persons joining on one line, a payment of £2 9s or £2 7s 8d will obtain full exchange service, free telephoning of telegrams over the subscribers' Tine, and free intercommunication with other m- , struments on the same wire. In New . Zealand the Department gives no free telephoning of telegrams, but imposes a pretty stiff fee. In the Commonwealth the charges for the use of public telephones have been reduced from 3d to Id, and for the use of short trunk lines (15 miles m length) from 6d to *4d. Greater facilities are now offered for the opening of public -telephones at subscribers' premises (the subscriber sharing m the revenue obtained), on wharves, or on i steamships, and m other public places In New Zealand the Department will not allow any sharing of receipts on the part of subscribers, though obviously, m the case of back-block telephones it would be to its advantage to' do to. , Whilst we are on the question of tele-" phone charges we cannot refrain fron once again -calling attention to the scale , of bureaux fees, which, contrary to IL-e accepted principle that distance is noth- ' ing to electricity, makes increased charges for every 25 miles of wire over j which communication is held. Whilst si' person may send a telegram from Gic- j borne to the Bluff for sixpence, the same ' fee as is charged for a. telegram to Maka- j raka, if he wishes to communicate by •• telephone with any place over 50 "miles : from here he has to pay 9d for three- ! minutes' communication, if 75 miles Is 6d, 140 miles 2s 6d, and so on m an ascending" scale of 6a for" every 40 miles I This tariff distinctly penalises the settlers who are living m the backblocks, and it makes communication with country .of-, ; fices much more costly than it ought to j be.