SLOT TELEPHONE BOXES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2371, 29 January 1915, Page 7

SLOT TELEPHONE BOXES

DEPARTMENTAL COMPLAINT. | The PosS and Telegraph Department draws attention to the manner in whioh the slot telephone boxes, erected in var-/ ions parts of the city near the street line, are treated at the present time. Apart from the abstraction of_ coin, which is of relatively minor importance, seeing that the gain to the depredator is so small, the more seriouß faotor is the loss and inconvenienco caused by the suspension of telephone nrivileges for those for whom they were intended. These telephones as a iule are situated in places where they can bo taken advantage of to the fullest extent by people who are not in a'• position to gain access to the usual telephone facilities. It is a very serious matter indeed when the telephone may be urgently required in case of sickness or even death to find thaif some ill-conditioned youth has tyken a keen delight in rcndoriug the slot telephone useless for the purpose for which it was erected. So many cases of vandalism have occurred recontly that the Department has under consideration the question of withdrawing the privilege altogether in ■those cases where tho instrument is interfered with persistently. As a matter of fact, in the case of the telephone cabinet in Aro Street, a neighbourhood to which the system must be of considerable value, it was only after a great deal of hesitation that the telephone was replaced. In view of the great advantage it must bo to have a telephone at their call riigftrt and da;,' it behoves residents in their own interests to report to the police anyone interfering with these machines.