A LOSING VENTURE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16583, 16 November 1921, Page 4

A LOSING VENTURE.

SLOT TELEPHONES A LUXURY. [From Ottr Correspondent. 3 November 15. A statement by the Postmaster-Gen-eral to-day apprised the House of the fact that slot telephones are one of the Postal Department’s losing ventures. In the cities they generally paid, said Mr Coates “ but,” he added, “they are quite the most expensive luxury we have to keep up.” He went on to point out that outlying slot telephones required considerable supervision, as they frequently went wrong, and members of the public put them to extraordinary uses. He indicated that the Department had a system of calling on public bodies to guarantee _ losses on these telephones in outlying areas, where they provided a public convenience, but failed to pay cost of maintenance. The qnestion arose as the result of an appeal hv Mr Sullivan to secure more slot telephones for his district. He had, he said, been turned down many times, though in many cases they would be a good financial proposition. The Minister’s reply was to enumerate the results of departmental invest!• gallon of the proposals in the Avon electorate. There was a probable loss of £lB per annum in South Brighton, which the Progress League had declined to pay. The matter was further investigated, by which time the cost of materials had so increased that the loss was estimated at £23. There was a probable loss of £lB on the Cutis Road telephone, which was required. The difficulty was that there were no wires in any of these cases- The Christchurch Exchange area was particularly well supplied -with slot telephones. as there were 88, compared with 61 in Auckland, 59 in Wellington and 55 in Dunedin.