“HELLO, OTAGO”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 726, 27 July 1929, Page 34

“HELLO, OTAGO”

Record Long Distance Telephone Gall • AUCKLAND TO ALEXANDRA A long-distance telephone record has been established for New Zealand. One evening this week an Auckland business man talked over the telephone to a client in Alexandra, Central Otago. They were 1,030 miles apart, and yet they were able to conduct their affairs with perfect ease. In three minutes each had said all he wanted to say to the other. Had the transaction been done by letter it would have taken eight or nine days to complete. On Wednesday Mr. G. Howard, of Northern Automobiles, received a telegram from Mr. Fox, of Alexandra, asking him to ring a certain telephone number in the Central Otago township that night. At 10.15 o’clock that evening Mr. Howard put the call through, and in a few minutes the connection was made—over 1,000 miles away. Distance was annihilated. These men were talking from almost one end of New Zealand to the other.

Think of the towns and provinces through which those voices travelled over the telephone wire—Hamilton, Palmerston North and Wellington, and all the smaller towns enroute; under Cook Strait, down through Marlborough and Canterbury, taking in Christchurch, Timaru, Oamaru and other towns. Then into Dunedin and away across Otago Central, along the banks of the Clutha River into a room in faraway Alexandra. And hearing was perfect. “When one can take the name and address of a man over the telephone at that distance it is a good service,” said Mr. Howard, when discussing his long-distance chat. Mr. Fox gave Mr. Howard particulars of a man he had commissioned to call on him (Mr. Howard) to inspect a motor-truck, “ft was just a business talk and we were able to say all we wanted to in three minutes,” said Mr. Howard. “No, we did not discuss the weather—it was rather too expensive for that.” Officials of the Post and Telegraph Department have conversed over the ’phone over similar distances, but this is a record for a private call. Since the installation of the carrier system between Auckland and Hamilton long-distance telephone calls have improved considerably. A little over a year ago this call to Alexandra would have been impossible, but the institution of the service between Auckland and the South Island has brought about great changes in telephone conversation over long distances. This service is being improved rapidly and it will not be long before the telephone voice from Christchurch will be brought as near as Papakura.