RECORD IN 'PHONE CALLS

Chronicle (Levin), 28 November 1946, Page 4

RECORD IN 'PHONE CALLS

PROGRESS OF NEW EXCHANGE Telephone operators at the Levin Post Office had their busiest period for many years this morning, when a record number of local calls were put through. Commenting on the position; the postmaster, Mr. L. A. Whitham, said it was probably due to the election and the sudden change in the weather. Rush periods such as these, clearly emphasised „ the necessity for a new switch bbard, and he was h'opeful that it would not be long before it was installed. The contractors for the temporary building, which is to be used to house the new equipmen't, had intimated that they hoped to have the building complete in a 'little over a fortnight, after which everything would be ready for the cable joiners to embark on the difficult task of changing over all Subscribers to the new board. It was not expected that subscribers would be inconvenienced while this work was in progress, as it would mainly be done at ni°'ht, said Mr. Whitham. He wished to emphasise that the installation of the new board would not mean that new subscribers could be accommodated. This could not be done till the new cable had been laid throughout the borough. When this was done, many at present on party lines would be given individual line service.

This morning's rush period began shortly after 9 a.m. and continued till 11 a.m., when calls began to slacken off. At one stage the rush was so great that the supervisor had to assist at the boards. Every cord on the seven boards was in use, with the result that there were insufficient to answer subscribers vdio had to wait until the cords were free. The unfortunate aspect of the present board was that it was handling twice as many subscribers as was normally expected of it. Each operator was confined to 100 subscribers, whereas on the new board they could each handle 150. The new equipment, which is modem maimai, will en&ble one operator to contact all numbers on all switchboards without the assistance of a second operator as at present. Besides their normal calls, they were also averaging 400 tollcalls a day;