RADIO PHONE SYSTEM

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19122, 17 September 1936, Page 5

RADIO PHONE SYSTEM

SERVICE IN TASMAN CONTACT WITH LINER (Special to tliu Herald.) WELLINGTON, this day. Radio-telephony previously associated with calls to Australia and Britain is taking cm a new phase, owing to the introduction into the trans-Tasman service of the Union Steam Ship Company’s liner Awaiea with its up-to-date equipment. The Postmaster-General, * the Hon. F, .Tones, announced yesterday that the Post Office had arranged a Tasman radio service by which calls may bn exchanged between passengers in the Awatea and any of the 130,000 telephone subscribers in New Zealand at till stages of the voyage. “Test communications between the department’s commercial radio station ZLW and the Awatea during the liner’s voyage to New Zealand proved that the equipment in the ship and on the shore is capable of giving an absolutely clear reception ever distances much longer than the route between New Zealand and Australia,” said Mr. Jones. “Therefore, speech can be maintained at any time of the day. It is proposed to charge 3s 4d per minute with a minimum of 10s, the charge for three minutes, and the calling schedule, having regard to the radio watches maintained in the Awatea, will range over a period of from 9 a.m. till 9 p.nt., while Uie Sunday calling hours will be from 5.30 p.m. till 8.30 p.m. Special calls can, however, be made at any time by prior arrangement. ’ ’