PRIVATE TELEPHONES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 16688, 10 March 1920, Page 4

PRIVATE TELEPHONES.

NEW PROPOSALS. BY POSTMASTER-GENERAL. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, March 9. Tho Postmaster-General, the Hon. J. G. Contes, announced to-day '‘that in order to make it easy for any settler to connect his house or homestead by a. private wire with the nearest telephone office the department will undertake to ■sell telephones to settlers at the actual cost of tho material for telephony cousructiou, oa a deferred payment system, interest to be charged on unpaid money at the rate of live per cent, per annum, instalments to be payable halfyearly and instalments to bo of .such an amount as will pay off both principal and interest in a period of ten years until thy whole of tho principal is repaid, the material to remain the property of the P. and T. Department. "Thu scheme, of course, refers only to private lines intended. to connect with the Department’s system and not to private lines intended for private intercommunication apart from the Department’s system. Summed up, the position will be that settlers desiring to erect a private wire will be able to obtain material from the Department at the lowest price, and on the easiest possible, terms, and will also, through a private line license, obtain the assistance and advice of the Department’s engineers iu the erection of the. line. If the settlers themselves can supply poles and possibly wire and insulators and labour for erecting a line, the work of constructing will cost them nothing., as tho Department will provide supervision of the woj'k by an engineer free. "The greatest difficulty has been experienced by the Department in getting materials. I am glad to say that at present the Department has fair supplies of telephones and insulators and further • supplies are on order. Wire suitable for country lines is available in fair quantities, hut just now the greatest difficulty confronting the Department is the supply of polos of suitable hardwood. Between 20.000 and 30,000 poles aro awaiting shipment in Australia and as soon as these poles arrive jt will be yiossible to make a. start with several works already authorised to connect up many baekblock districts. . The Department will then be able to go on with some of the many party line connections with telephones exchanges which have been held up for SO long for want of poles.”