TELEPHONE CHARGES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2725, 21 March 1916, Page 2

TELEPHONE CHARGES

MILEAGE & SUBSCRIPTION RATE WHERE IS THE CENTRE OF THE CITY? . Once more the vexed question of telephone charges was before the council of

the Wellington Central Chamber of Commerce yesterday afternoon. Since

the last meeting of the council a letter bad been forwarded to tho secretary of

tho General Post Office (Mr. W. 11. Morris) oalling attention to tlio unevenness of the telephone charges, owing to the out-of-the-way location of the Telephone Exchange in Wellington, which favoured one end of the City against another. To this letter Mr.

Morris replied that when the automatic system was completely installed the question of altering tile charges would receive consideration, but that the progress of that work had been unfortunately. retarded by the country being in a state of war.

The chairman called tho attention of l .he meeting to the word' "altering,"

"which might mean anything," he added.

Mr. Winder said that the rates at present were not fair owing to the Exchange not being in the centre of the City. The result was that the people at the Thorndon end of the City got the benefit. This was an old grievance that had been going for 7 years. Mr.> Leigh Hunt: Like the railway stations and goods s'heds?

Mr. W. Smith: No. it was not the same. Traction was required in the one case, but no traction was required with the telephone, which was only a wire connection. Mr. Winder: The charge should be a fair one from the centre of the City, no matter where the Exchange is.

Mr. R. Hall thought that the charge should be made from a central point— somewhere about Manners Street was, he supposed, the centre of the business part of tho City. Mr. Gaudin stated that the telephone charge to Island Bay was £13 10s., while it was only about £6 to Kaiwarra. If the public were charged as from a common centre there would probably be more subscribers at the Island Bay end of the City. ■ It was agreed that the Department should take the rectification of the oharges i to consideration as soon as the" automatic system was complete.

Deposits for Bureau Charges. At last meeting of the council Mr. Robert Hall suggested that the Post and' Telegraph Department should be approachc.l with the idea of allowing business men to pay an amount down on account of bureau charges, instead of having to pay small accounts of a shilling or two, and by neglecting the payment of tlio same having the telephone cut off. The Department was duly written to, and the following Toply Was received:—-"I have the honour by direction to inform you that the Post-master-General regrets that ho is unable to favourably consider any extension of the present rule for the acceptance of deposits 'to cover telegraph fcliarges. 'The present rule provides that°a person whose residence or place of businoss 'is not less than two miles from the neaaeat post *or telegraph office may make a cash deposit to meet any charges leviable on cable messages, or oil such telegrams, bureau communications, requests for special messenger service, eto-\ as niay be 6ent or ai>« ranged for through his telephone exchange connection or private wire; also that any person'whose residence or place of business is less than tWo miles from the, nearest post office may on payment of a charge of £2 ■ 2s. a_ year, make a cash deposit to cover the charges leviable on cable messages. Tip to July of last year cash deposits to cover telegraph charges of various kinds wero accepted from any person or firm, but it was found necessary to restrict the privilege becausj the deposits became bo numerous that they hampered the work of the Department. The system when, introduced' was intended for the benefit of outlying settlers, tliat is to say, persons to whom a post offico was not easily accessible, and it had grown bv'degrees to unwieldly dimensions. The' privilege would not have been curtailed had it not forced itself upon tlio attention of the Department, as involving labour and account keeping, while were properly the work of the depositors. —I have the honour to be, sir, your obedieut servant, F. V. Waters, ITirst Assistant Secretary,".

Mr. Leigh Hunt said it was curious to hear of the Government offering to charge £2 for keeping a credit account. 1 Mr. W. Smith pointed out that in any case book-keeping ivas involved on account of the numerous outstanding threepences and sixpences. Mr. Winder said it only showed how uiibusiness-like it was of tho Government. who might get in plenty of money before the system? was worked out. There was one business, firm m Sydney who gave its customers who were in credit 10 per centl discount on all their goods. Wharf Telephones. The letter forwarded to the Harbour Board regarding the use Ay business firms of the shed telephones on tho wharf, elicited the reply that the Post and Telegraph regulations precluded such -use being made of the telephones in question. Mr. Koberfc Ha l ] argued that as payers of dues to the board they were entitled to tho use of the telephone, and did not see why they should pay pennies for. the use of the slot machines (as recommended in the letter). On his motion, it \vas : decided to ■write to the Department urging that tlie regulations he waived in, regard to wharf telephones in order to allow payers of dues to communicate with their places of business.