The Timaru Herald FRIDAY, MAY 28, 1909. THE NEW TELEPJONE SERVICE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13915, 28 May 1909, Page 4

The Timaru Herald FRIDAY, MAY 28, 1909. THE NEW TELEPJONE SERVICE.

A circular which Ims just been sent-out to subscribers to the Timaru telephone ■\\stoin, asking whether they are ; will'"K to pay an extra, 20s a year in order to obtain a continuous service, it is to be hoped will nicet "with more attention than a previous o'ne, to which only about, one-fourth of the subscribes took the trouble to replv. * The Departmental letter which the circular quotes is clumsily worded,. in that it, does not make any reference to the piesent graduated scale of. charges for distance, hut names certain sums as il these were to apply to all cases. J lie fact is, we arc informed hy : the Chief Postmaster, that the continuous service charge adds to the present graduated charge; if owners of all business connections agree to bear the extra charge this will be £2 each; if the cost is thrown upon, -all services, the extra charge is to be £1 each. I lie question for each subscriber to consider is whether the increased convenience is worth the increase of cost. At present the service is closed, on Sundays one-seventh of the year; and from midnight to 8 a.m.—one-third ol' the other days of the week. There could be but very little use for, the system for some hours after midnight; but it is easily conceivable that the exchange clerks would lie busy between seven and eight on niany mornings, and not idle between six and seven in summer at any rate. Business people might or might not make use of the telephone on Sundays, probably not ; but certainly few instruments in private residences would 1 ' be unemployed all day. ,■ The fact that the hospital, the doctors, arid the fire brigade stations will /he - disconnected for one third of the 24' hours (if eaclii week " day and all day on Sunday, unless the service is made • continuous; is a matter of considerable importance, especially in regard to the fire stations. A number of fires have occurred recently in the small hoiirs of the morning, and in each case someone had to travel to the firebell, because the telephone was not available to facilitate the giving of an alarm, and fires liave occurred at business places whose owners live, at a distance from them, and messengers had to be sent to inform them of the fact. A continuous telephone service; would not be so much used in Timaru as in the. four larger centres ;. hut; besides these, six other towns have found it desirable to have this service, these being Hastings, Napier, Palmerston North, Wangamii, Masterton, and Invercargill. Timaru has undertaken some considerable expenditures for the purpose of bringing itself up-to-date, and on an equality with other, towns of about- equal population; and visitors from towns where the continuous service exir.ts have expressed surprise that Timaru has not secured this convenience. The Department has gone to a great expanse in installing the most up-to-date telephone system in Timaru, a system which even tlie four centres have not got, and in view of the financial situation are not likely to get for a good, while. It would only be reasonable that Timaru* should show its appreciation of the booh—for boon it will be found to be —by accepting the extra tax demanded for the full, as against the incomplete use of it It is not a little surprising that the Department did not require an undertaking to be given that this would 'be accepted before deciding to instal so expensive a plant here —one of the only two in the Dominion, if not in Australasia, the. other now being supplied to Jnvercargill. A correspondent this morning writes in. opposition to the proposed extension., and writes too angrily to be fair. lie calculates for instance on an all-round charge of £2 per connection, whereas the all-round charge proposed is only £1 ; and in his calculation of the cost: to the Department he ignores altogether the cost of storage battery power, light for instrument room and fuel for cold mornings; and assumes that, one extra, clerk would do the extra work, which, the Chief Postmaster informs us, is not the case. ,