NEW EXCHANGE OPENED

Chronicle (Levin), 4 August 1947, Page 4

NEW EXCHANGE OPENED

Levin And Wellington Linked In First Call With a dexterity which amazed the bystanders, the swjtchbogrd qperatqi'S at the Levin Post Office commenced wotking the new telephone exchange on Saturday. Aithough they had not' had any experienqb on this type of board, ihey were soon able to make all the required .connections. The exchange W&s officially ppened by the Mgyor, Mr. H, B. Burdekin, who made the first cgii, which was to the Mayor of Wellington, Mr. Will Appleton.

The mayoral conversation ran as [ollowg: — Mr. Burdekin: "Hello. Is ;hat Mr. Appieton?" An afiirmative ceply was received. "We are having a big day in Levin, and I thought bhat as we are almost a suburb of Wellington, you would like to Rnow bhat the old exchange, which has been in operation for 22 years, has now been replaced with a new one. We are looking forward to the difference it will make to our communication with Wellington." Mr., Appleton; "Thank you Mr. Burdekin, I have a message "for the people ' of Levin from the people of Wellington. I understand how hard it is to get materials for such projects and would like, on behalf of the citizens of Wellington, to congratulate the Levin residents, post and teiegraph workers, engineers and techhieians on their suceess in obtaining and instaliing the new exchange. Kia Ora Levin. May you continue to grow." A call was then made to the Director-General of the Post and Telegraph Department, Mr. P. N. Cryer, tq, inform him that the exchange was open. He extended his eongratulations to Levin, and assured the residents that the department would look after its interests. The superintendent-engineer General Post Office, Wellington, Mr. G. Milne, then explained to the members of the public present the technical details of the new exchange. The party then retired to the R.S.A. Rooms as the noise of speeches would disturb the efficient wgrk qf the operators. Following afternoon tea, provided by the • postal employees, the chief posti mqster for the distriet, Mr. M. R. jAldridge, congratulated Mr. Trask on the efficient manner in which _ I he and his employees had installed the exchange. He spoke of the progress Levin had made during the last 25 years. "The thing which ishows the wealth of any distriet is the apiount of money on deposit in the post office. Levin, residents have £631,431 on deposit. Need I say more?"

First Post Mistress The Levin postmaster, Mr. L. A. Whitham, invited 1 : Miss " H. E. Bowen, as Levin's first postmistress to speak to the gathering. Miss Bowen eloquently eompared the way in which Levin residents worked in her day. "When I was postmistress we worked from 7.30 a.m. to 10.30 p.m. There was no thought of a forty-hour week then." She gave the gathering - to understand that she did not care for the way the speakers were talking of Levin 's progress. "In those days we could post a letter at 10.30 a.m. and have it delivered in New Plymouth the same day. Now it takes three days," she concluded. Mr. Milne explained that it was hot altogether the fault of the department that letters took so long to be delivered. He then iwent on to enlarge on his original explanation of the workings of the new exchange. Usually, he said, ; when a new exchange was installed provision was made for it to have an extension fitted at some future I date. "The most unusual fact about the present exchange is that we had to fit the extension at the time of installation." The new board had been made in Coventry, that much bombed town in Eng-, land, In future the department hoped to open up very small exchanges in joutlying districts, Mr. Milne said.' /'These exchanges will be of the ;automatic type, and subscribers will be able to djal each other and also dial the exchange into the town," said Mr. Milne. At one time New Zealand took second place in the world for telephonic service on a population basis. Now, however, Sweden had taken second place and New Zealand had dropped back to third. This was the result of the lead Sweden gained during the war. New Zealand 'would soon take her place again, concluded Mr, Milne. i Mr. A. J. Gimblett, chairman of , the Horowhenua County Councii, mentioned ihe importance of the telephone service in a country distriet. "I would like to congratulate Levin residents on the progress they have made in the last 20 years," said Mr. Gimblett. The next speaker was Mr. T. G. Vincent, chairman of the Horowhenua Electric Power Board, who was one of the first cadets at the Levin- Post Office in 1903. At that time Miss Bowen had been postmistress. "I like to remember those men wlio did such a wonderful service to the town — the old morse operators," said Mr. Vincent. When Miss Bowen was in charge of the post office, there were only three employees, said Mr. Whitham, in closing the ceremony. Now there were nearly sixty.