F—l

New Exchanges Established During the year the undermentioned new rural automatic-telephone exchanges were opened :

In addition, the Orini manual exchange in the Raglan County serving 123 subscribers was converted to rural automatic working. Special efforts have been made during the year to meet the requirements of rural areas, and 12,802 new connections have been made at manual exchanges, a high proportion of them being for rural subscribers. A trial automatic exchange switching unit of 130 subscribers' lines was installed during the year at Rotorua in order to test the operation of automatic switching equipment in the atmospheric conditions peculiar to thermal regions. Proposed New Exchanges Authority has been given for the establishment of new telephone exchanges at the following places. In some instances construction work is already in hand and in others is about to commence, but the completion of the programme will, of course, depend upon the considerations of man-power, materials, and financial provision already mentioned.

It is also intended to convert the Waipahi manual exchange (Clutha County) to rural automatic working. Ultimately, all the exchanges named in the foregoing list will be automatic, but some will at the outset be established on a manual basis. In addition, proposals to establish new exchanges at a number of other places, mostly in rural areas, are under consideration. TOLL SERVICE Growth in the volume of toll traffic is rapid and continuous ; this is a reflection of the increasing number of subscribers and the growing telephone consciousness of people generally. The ultimate aim of the Post Office is to provide a no-delay toll service. For this to be possible, there must be adequate circuits and toll-operating facilities.

16

Place. County. ! Date Opened. Number of Subscribers as at 31st March, 1950. Awhitu Franklin 16th January, 1950 137 Harihari Westland 9th November, 1949 79 Te Palm Raglan 27th June, 1949 80

Place. County. Place. County. 1 Alton Donnellys Crossing .. Five Forks Herbert Maheno Mount Maunganui .. Murupara .. Ohai Otira Patea. Hobson. Waitaki. Waitaki. Waitaki. Tauranga Whakatane. Wallace. Westland. Panetapu South Hillend.. Tawa Flat Titirangi Wairau Yalley Wataroa Whangamata Whitianga 1 i Otorohanga. Southland, j Makara. Waitemata. Marlborough. Westland. Thames. Coromandel.