THE KING’S TELEPHONE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 197, 21 August 1931, Page 11

THE KING’S TELEPHONE

TWO MILLIONTH INSTRUMENT. UNIQUE GIFT TO HIS MAJESTY. To commemorate the remarkable progress of the service, the 2,000,000 th telephone installed in Britain has been accepted by the King for use in Buckingham Palace. The instrument, which is one of the latest hand-microphones, is finished in old gold, and bears a decorative plate, surmounted by a crown, with the inscription: “This instrument, installed for His Majesty King George V., is the 2,000,000 th telephone connected with the Post Office system —June, 1931.” “During the past few years,” said a high official of the Post Office, “the British telephone service has grown at a rate averaging 125,000 telephones a year. Two out of three of the orders now being taken are for telephones in the hame. With a view to making the telephone service convenient to everyone, public call office and street kiosk facilities have been developed to a greater extent than in any other coun- ■: y in the world. “We are devoting special attention to the development of the telephone service in country districts, where the service is of particular value in reducing the disadvantages of isolation. The rural telephone exchanges to-day number 3300, and that total is growing at a rate of 200 exchans«M a year. Altogether there are now in operation in the British Post Office system nearly 5000 telephone exchanges, over 600 of which are automatic. They deal with .1,500,000,000 calls a year. “In 1876 the world marvelled at the possibility of two persons conversing over a few yards of wire; to-day, with London as the telephonic centre of the world, subscribers talk every day to the most distant parts of the globe as easily as if they were speaking to friends a few streets away. Indeed, subscribrs who regularly speak to Australia, Canada, United States and South America can truly say that with the telephone, on their table they ‘have the world at Their elbow.’ ”