TOLL LINES BUSY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20298, 7 May 1934, Page 7

TOLL LINES BUSY.

Hundreds of Messages to Little River. The telephone toll lines between Christchurch and Little River were extremely busy this morning, and, for other than urgent calls, a wait of at least half an hour was necessary before messages could be put through. Overworked exchange attendants at Little River, who have been working almost continuously since Friday night bad to deal with hundreds of calls, either to people in the township or in the outlying districts, as well as attend to many outward calls. Talking to districts connected with the Little River Exchange was like talking to three or four different places at the same time. Continual interruptions and fragments of anonymous speech made conversation disjointed and full of “ IIullos.” " No, I’m getting the mail away and 1 can’t attend to you now. I’m terribly busy,” was one snatch of conversation heard by a “ Star ” reporter who was ringing a Cooptown resident. All the time there was an undercurrent of speech, with assorted clickings and buzzings. No trouble was reported from any of the toll lines, but perhaps the post office staffs wished that there was. Private line phones at Port Levy and Pigeon Bay were cut off, as the lines had broken.