CODE ADDRESSES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20679, 18 March 1937, Page 3

CODE ADDRESSES

HUMOUR AND INGENUITY In the naming of racehorses real genius is sometimes shown in devising something suggestive of pedigree, but this is not the only field in which inventive originality in naming can be found. It crops up rather surprisingly in a list of inland and overseas code addresses registered by the Post and Telegraph Department. For a small fee, business firms and individuals may register a telegraphic code address which has the advantage of enabling at least two words in every telegram to be saved, as the normal address is covered by the code word and the name of the town. There are more than 440 of these code addresses registered in New Zealand, and in the list which has just been reprinted not only ingenuity but a sense of humour is to be seen in the selection of the one word indicative of a particular address. The sedate business man hunting round for a single word for his telegraphic address sometimes adopts something conveying a whimsical suggestion of the particular activity of the firm. In most cases it is a clear indicator of the business such as “Iceberg,” the apt selection of the telegraphic address for a freezing company, or “Agfarm,” the code address of one of the agricultural instructional farms of the Department of Agriculture. The Government Statistician, whose telegraphic address normally is quite lengthy, as the Department has a long descriptive title, can be reached by telegram with the words “Statistics” Wellington, while the City Council Electrical Department, Christchurch (five words) may be found by telegraphing “Lakelight,’’ Christchurch, a very appropriate twoword designation for the distributing agency of Lake Coleridge power. Examination of the code list shows also a desire to adopt for the indicator some word expressing one of the human virtues, an excellent method of conveying a good Impression as well as showing exactly where the firm is to be found.