Present Position in the Dominion

Progress, Volume V, Issue 12, 1 October 1910, Page 15

Present Position in the Dominion

Steady progress is being made in extending the telephonic service to outlying districts which have no communication with the outer world by telegraph or by telephone; and where the department is not warranted in erecting lines for a purely individual service, every facility is given to those settlers who erect private wires to connect them with a telephone or a telegraph office. (Applause.) The settler who has a private wire connected with a telephone station is placed in the position as if he were actually present at the station, his wire being joined to any existing speaking telephone circuit as well as his telegrams, forwarded and received, being transmitted over his private wire by the department's telephonist. The opening of new lines to backblock settlements brings increased business to the main circuits and renders necessary the erection of additional wire accommodation over main routes. This additional wire accommodation frequently serves also the purpose of trunk telephone services, which are given by superimposing a telephone circuit on telegraph wires and sometimes by a telegraph circuit over trunk telephone wires. Much telephone speaking communication requires numerous circuits, as the capacity of a telephone circuit to give efficient service without undue delay is limited. A pair of wires has to be provided for an average of fifty conversations a day. To provide these circuits, therefore, much capital is required; and but for the combined use of telegraph and telephone wires many of the services could not have been authorised as self-supporting. I have just authorised the erection of two .copper wires between Wellington and Auckland for telegraph purposes, by a new route on the main trunk railway line which is much shorter than the existing routes by the west and east coasts. These wires will also be used during certain hours at night, probably from 5 p.m. to 10 a.m., and on Sundays and holidays, for telephonic purposes between the two cities. Later on, if the telephone business warrants it, a day service will be arranged for by the erection of an additional wire. The greatest demand in the Dominion now is for telephone trunk services, and wherever there is only a telegraph service the additional one of speaking to their correspondents instead of sending a telegram is urgently asked for by the public. Wherever practicable I comply with such requests if it can be shown that there is a prospect that such services will be self-supporting. The erection of the additional telegraph wires to Auckland will also improve the whole telegraph service of the North Island.

Telephone Exchanges. — The existing exchanges continue to increase their number of subscribers, and new exchanges are being opened in many cases in quite small places to meet the public desire for direct talking already referred to.

The department is steadily making its exchanges metallic working instead of earth circuit, and is also introducing the latest type of switchboard, namely, the

central battery. Invercargill and Timaru have enjoyed the improved methods for nearly a year, and Hastings is now being similarly equipped. It is the intention to gradually give all the exchanges metallic circuits, as well as the larger centres which now have them. Central battery switchboards will be provided for Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin when the present branching multiple switchboards' capacity has been reached, and it becomes necessary to provide for growth beyond the present switchboards as well as building accommodation.