RADIO TELEPHONE

Stratford Evening Post, Volume III, Issue 348, 1 May 1935, Page 6

RADIO TELEPHONE

CHARGES TO BE REDUCED CONCESSION DURING THE KING’S JUBILEE (Special Message) Wellington, Today. During the period immediately following the Silver Jubilee of His Majesty the King the Empire is to be drawn closer together by very substantial reductions in the charges for radio telephone' calls, statesrthe' Postmasteb-General (the Hon. Adam Hamilton). From the 6th to the 31st May it has been decided by mutual arrangement between tlie administrations concerned to reduce the charges for radio telephone service between the United Kingdom and New Zealand from £2 5s to £1 2s 6d a minute with a minimum charge of £3 7s 6d. Similar reductions are being effected in the case of calls between the United Kingdom and other parts of the Empire.

Slight permanent reductions in the charges for the radio telephone service between New Zealand and Ireland and between New Zealand and the Isle of Man are also being introduced in the case of Northern Ireland and the isle of Man. It is proposed as a permanent measure to reduce the basic charge from £2 7s to £2 5s a minute while in the case of the Irish Free State (Dublin only) the basic rate is being permanently reduced from £2 7s to £2 6s a minute.

More Traffic Expected

During the Jubilee period these rates will be reduced by approximately 50 per cent. Although the permanent charges for radio telephone service from New Zealand are I reasonable compared with those for similar services operating in other | parts of .the world the minister stated that they precluded the use of the radio telephone except for private and business conversations of the highest importance and the traffic had consequently been far below :the capacity of the available channels. No doubt during the Jubilee period mu’ch greater advantage would be taken of the service. Radio telephonic communication was’ first made available between iAustralia and England on the 30th. April 1930 and between Australia and New Zealand on the- 25th. November of the same year. The complete radio [ink between New Zealand and the United Kingdom was made available on the 23rd. July, 1931, and the service while not used to anything like its fun, capacity has been on | occasions of very great value to the government and the business community.