TELEPHONE SERVICES
THE POSITION EXPLAINED
CONTINUED SHORTAGE 01'
SUPPLIES
NEEDS OF COUNTRY DISTRICTS
The difficulty in getting supplies c-f material for the maintenance of telephone and telegraph lines ond for the construction of new lines, has been giving the Po.st and Telegraph Department much concern for some time. The position has lately becomo accentuated by reason of the largo dein.-uul for telephone connections in tile four centres if the Dominion, and the Department is faced with the necessity of improvising somo temporary arrangements rc lesrei) the present-difficulties until supplies of material can be obtained and normal methods brought into operation. "The Departmental officers," s'tid the Hon. ,T. Ci. Coates, Postmaster-Genaral, in an interview on Saturday, "have instructions to do whatever is possible to temporarily ease the position which has resutled owing to the shortage of material until the suppliers are able to meet the Department's requirements. ] have had frequent conferences with the Secretary of the Deiwrtment {Mr. W. R. Morris) and tho Chief Engineer (Mr. E. A. Shrimpton), and J can assure those members of the public whose applications for telephones have been in for some time that delay in meeting them has been unavoidable. A. large branch of the Public Service like the Post and Telegraph Department, which uses thousands of pounds worth of material, much of -it of 11 kind that wn= required by the Army and Wavy, which, of course, had first call rpon the supplies during the war, could not be expected to keep its supplies up to their proper working strength, and this T am sure is recognised by the public. I called upon tho Chief Engineer for a report as to the present position of each of the four centres, and the report, which is as follows, throws some light on the growth if the telephone f.vstem in New Zealand, and, rs a consequence, the demands made norm 0" roor supplies of material whiieh the Department has been able to obtain.
Wellington Engineer's District. Wellington city was somewhat relieved ai far as switchboard sccomu'odation is concerned when the Conrtem;y Place <md Newtown automatic ev;hange9 were brought into operation, but this will not cany us on until tho -na-'n exchange is installed. A building for (lie latter lias yet to bo built, and while this is being clone additional equipment now being ordered for Conrtenny 3'lace, Wellington South, and Kelburn will accommodate the now subscribers, who will eventually belong to the main exchange. The apparatus will be arranged in such a way that when the subscribers belonging to the main exchange, are taken off Courtenay Place, Wellington South, and Kelburn they will retain the numbers ollotted to them. Wellington city and suburban work has been hampered owing to shortage of cable, but this has eased and we should not again have so much trouble in this direction. Automatic exchanges are being iretailed at Wanganui and Palmerslon 'Jorth. There is not now much trouble in other centres in the district except, »f course, where party lines are held ap waiting for poles. Transition Period. ,Tn addition to the difficulties regarding supplies of material which have bpen shared in common bv all parts of tho British Empire, and in fact by all parts of the world, during the last few years, New Zealand has had to face tho difficulty that when the war broke out the telephone exchanges in the larger centres were in n transition period. The old switchboards, which had done duty long beyond the period, of their useful life, were incapable of accommodating nny further subscribers. New exchanpes wero ibeine pushed on with, and under ordinary circumstances buildings would have been erected and the now automatic exchanges completed in time to meet the growing demnnds for telephonic communication. The war nut a ston to the supplies, of material for the new exchanges, and the Department was. therefore, faced with the dual problem—shortage of material for lines and stoppage of the supply of switchboard material for the new exchanges. The latter troubles aro new being rectified, and more men aro at the present moment being employed upon the erection of telephone exehnncre switchboard apparatus in New Zealand than at any previous times in its history. Some new automatic exchanges have already been opened since the war: others are being pushed ahead, and no time wi" be lost in bringing them into service. Temporary arrangements h.avc been-vsorM to wherever practicable to supn l cmert the capacity of the old switchboards, and by this means considerate relief ha« been afforded to tho telephone situation which would have been much more acute ''out for the enerefftic stens that have been taken to do whatever was possible to maintain telephone communication throughout the country. The Department now has telephone', wire, and'insulators sufficient for a fair amount of development work, and tenders have closed fo'r more wire. Tt is expected that a lot of work will be done this year. The main teVrapli ard trunk linps will demand a lot o f attention. Mn'ntenance work durin" the ra=t five years lias not been nossib'e. except, of course, bare necessities. More preprßss TVTI 1 hp TP'VIO tlif flncl avrs. long overdue from Australia, come to hand. The Rural Services.
"It will be seen," Mr. Coates said, "that the Chief Engineer's report deals mostly with the congestion and needs ot the ci't : es a'ul suburban areas, but the interests of the settlers in the back coun-ti-v of the Dominion lmve also to be considered. There are many settlers m the back areas who have struggled along the vnars with bad roads, and in a number of cases, practically shut off from communication. Their demands for telephono facilities lire fully justified, and they are entitled to have one of the nrst claims upon the Department for the construction of their lines. Tho claims or those returned soldiers who have taken up sections remote from communication must also lie attended to. It is the policy of tho Government to bring the districts which are now isolated within easy range of communication, and whilst seein" tiiat the needs of the cities are met it will bo the aim of the Government to give tho back-country people the telephone facilities which are essential to them. Tho Minister then went on to refer to the difficulties that have been in tho way preventing much progress in tho linking up ot tho back-blocks with the telephone system. "One of tho main troubles has been tho supply of poles and wire. There has been a great demand throughout tho Dominion for party-line telephone service to outlying districts. Hundreds of applications havo had to be held i
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