THE TELEPHONE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1553, 24 September 1912, Page 8

THE TELEPHONE.

AUTOMATIC SYSTEM. j . i AUCKLAND AND WELLINGTON TO S BE EQUIPPED. | Cabinet has decided to.coll lenders for j automatic telephone installations in Wei- \ linjton ami Auckland. A start will pro- ] bably be made at Auckland. > The Hon. 11. 11. Rhodes told a. reporter last evening that unless steps were.taken to relievo Iho pressure on llio Auckland Exchange it would become necessary within twelvo or'eighteen months to refuse subscribers. He had therefore decided to obtain .100 automatic telephones to be installed immediately at Auckland. Those instruments would not be purchased by tender, but would be ordered at once. 11l the meantime those telephones would not ha automatic so far as the subscriber was concerned, but the accompanying addition to the exchange would lie operated under a combination of the. manual and automatic svstems. Mr. lihodss mentioned that oven in this modified form the introduction of the automatic system would entail a, considerable economy. lo .operate a, switchboard for 500 subscribersMindcr the manual system would necessitate the services of li attendants. With the combination of the manual and automatic systems, under which provision is to bo made lor 500 additional subscribers at Auckland, only four additional attendants will be require!. , . . . ■ It will be some time before complete automatic installations can bo fitted up in Auckland and Wellington, but matters will be pushed on as expeditiously as possible, for the position created by the increasing demand for lelephono connections is almost ns acute in TVollington as it is in Auckland. It is estimated that he existing equipment in this city can onl> cope with the increase in subscribers .for tr.-o years more. At the end of that period, unless the equipment is augmented, the exchange will bo at a standstill so fai as additional subscribers arc concerned All who care to do so will bo invited to tender, but the Postmaster-General expects that in any case tenders will be sent , in bv leading firms in England, the | United States, and Germany. . . ~ \ large number of companies in tlie United States, Great Britain, and .Europe will probably submit tenders for installa- | lions in New Zealand. The firms which are operating on the largest scale, and from ono of which the successful tender will probably be received, are the Auto, matic Electric Company, Chicago (who supply the Strowger system), the Western Electric Company (manufacturer.? of a semi-automatic system), New York and London, Messrs. Siemens Bros., Loudon, (who supply the Sieincns-llniske system, which is pfacticallv the Slrowger system, tin. only difference being a mechanical one), the North Electric Company, Cleveland (who manufacture, a semi-automatic system), and the Automatic Telephone Manufacturing Company, Ltd., London, who own the Strowger patent rights for Great Britain and certain British colonics, including New Zealand. The preliminary installation at Auckland will be only semi-automatic in operation. There will not be'.a dial attached to the new telephones until the automatic installation is completed, and so far. as the subscriber is concerned, they will be operated in the same manner as the common battcrv system in uso in Timaru, Invercargill, and Hastings. By lifting the receiver from its hook, the subscriber will cause a little lamp at the exchange to glow, and thus attract the attention of an attendant, to whom ho will give tho required number. Should it be that of an automatio telephone, she. will make the connection by "pulling" a dial and by that onero.'tion the connection will be completed, and ringing at the telephone called effected automatically. When the call is for a manual telephone, the attendant will pass it on to tho present switchboard, and a. call from a manual to an automatic will bo similarly dealt with by tho agency of tho two attendants. Tho apparatus at the exchange in connection with the extension of tho system will comprise a common battery for the onoration of the telephones, and the . Keith lineswitches and connectors which form Iho principal feature in the mechanical part, of the automatic system. The cost of an exchange of 500 automatic telephones (?x----clusive'of the dials, which cost £1 each), is about .£2BOO, of whicli .£3OO is tho cost of installation. The cost of the extension will apparently be between .£2500 and .£3OOO.