HUNDREDS WAIT FOR 'PHONES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17755, 27 January 1926, Page 10

HUNDREDS WAIT FOR 'PHONES.

TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT CANNOT CATCH UP ON HEAVY DEMAND.

That, four hundred Christchurch residents who at present have applications for connection with the public telephone system lodged at the Post and Telegraph Office will have to wait eighteen months before they are connected was learned as the result of inquiries yesterday'. It was stated that eighteen hundred would-be subscribers are waiting to be connected, and that the work of connecting them was being proceeded with at a satisfactory pace. Many, however, would have to wait a considerable time before they would get their telephones. “It has been the same for years past; we can never catch up on the demand,''’ said one official. “ Thousands of people would rush us with applications for connection to-morrow if they thought that they would get an installation without waiting. But they must wait. “ If. for instance,” he said. “ we started installing ’phones in Riccarton, the following day we would be besieged by Riccarton residents who wanted to be connected. There are a multiplicity of reasons why we can’t keep up with the demand. Many people, the official stated, had put\in their applications for telephonic connection in anticipation of the installation of the complete automatic system. At the present time the manual boards were taxed to capacity. They could not take any more. “ With the automatic system, however,” he said, “we could take thousands; in fact, there would be no limit.”