PARTY LINES

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 66, Issue 5605, 14 April 1943, Page 3

PARTY LINES

REGULATIONS EXPLAINED Complaints that people on telephone party lines were gossiping and conducting social activities over the telephone for long periods, making it difficult for business people to communicate with them quickly, were referred to Mr H. Hawke, postmaster at Cambridge (says the Waikato Independent). It was alleged by one local business man that the position was becoming quite ridiculous, and people on country party lines should be compelled to speed up their conversations. One farmer stated that he had found difficulty in using his telephone for a matter of some importance recently because two women on the same party line were holding a discussion which lasted for a considerable time. “ If a party line is engaged by subscribers speaking between themselves, and someone else desires to use the line, subscribers are required by regulation to give it up after six minutes,” said Mr Hawke. “It is difficult or almost impossible for exchange attendants to enforce compliance with the regulations. There are five day operators at Cambridge, and they are seldom in a position to know whether one call on a party line has been of six minutes’ duration or several calls have been made in the time.” Mr Hawke said that if the line was required by outside persons the exchange operators would certainly inform the party-line subscribers if it were known that they had been speaking for six minutes. “ Much of the trouble is caused by neighbours on the same line ringing each other to fill in time and speaking about the amount of jam they made or similar unimportant matters.” he continued. Asked whether there was no way by which subscribers on country lines could be compelled to reduce the duration of their telephone conversations, Mr Hawke stated that the whole matter depended on people making conversations as short as possible. That would save much bother with party lines.