LONG TELEPHONE LINE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16201, 26 November 1926, Page 7

LONG TELEPHONE LINE

TOWNSVILLE TO MELBOU.ItNT

SYDNKY, Nov. 11. What is claimed to be the second longest trunk telephone line in the world, and certainly the longest in the Southern Hemisphere, was opened for public calls this week by the Commonwealth Telephone Department between Townsville, North Queensland, and Melbourne. The length of- the new Hue is 2017 miles, almost the length of Australia from north lo south. eventually the department plans to open 11 line for calls from Cairns to Adelaide, n distance of 11000 miles.

The line is available for frnllic 21 hours a day. During the almost instantaneous flash of the sound waves across the continent, they will bo amplified by highly-sensitised instruments at ten intermediate stations at Bundaberg, Rockhumpton, Maekay, Bowen, Brisbane, Glen Lines, Maitland, Sydney, Ooulburn and Wagga. At each of these stations a special staff is required to look after the instruments.

The fee for three minutes' conversation over the new line is 15s Sd, which is slightly less than half the cost of a similar call over the same length of line in the United States. If it were possible to give such a call in Britain the, tariff would be lib's. The New York-San Francisco line, bythe way, is the only line known to the director of postal services here to be longer than the Townsville-Melbournc service.

While the Post Office docs not expect, much traffic over the full length of line in its early stages, it is believed that calls over the TownsvilleBrisbane and Townsvillo-Sydney sections will cut down the losses on the full-length line.