THE AUTOMATICS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20127, 22 December 1939, Page 6

THE AUTOMATICS

TELEPHONE EXCHANGE PORTION OF EQUIPMENT ARRIVAL IN GISBORNE START AFTER HOLIDAYS The first portion of the equipment for Gisborne’s automatic telephone exchange arrived this week, and arrangements are being made to put the early part of the installation work in hand soon after the Christmas and New Year holidays. The building to house the new exchange has been completed for some weeks, and everything is in readiness there to receive the equipment as it comes forward. Sufficient is in hand for a great deal of the preparatory work to be done, and no time will be lost in getting the work well forward in readiness to be taken a step further when other sections of the plant come to hand. Under war-time conditions, however, the date of arrival of further equipment must be uncertain.

One of the first outward signs of activity in connection with the building up of the new exchange will be excavations in Customhouse street between the Post Office, where the present manual exchange is situated, and Childers road, where the new exchange is to be housed. The excavations will proceed as a preliminary to the laying of 12 underground ducts, which will be used to divert the cables leading into the present exchange ready for the change-over to the automatic system. Thousands of Wires The ducts are Sin. pipes through which the cables will be drawn. Five of the cables will contain 1000 pairs of wires and another 600 pairs of wires. Several of the ducts, therefore, will remain unused al present, but it is pointed out that room is being made for future expansion of the telephone system to what is regarded as the ultimate requirements. That provision will be made now in order to avoid pulling up the street later when an extension of the service is required.

The jointing of nearly 6000 pairs of wires for the diversion of the underground cables will provide an intricate task, which will proceed in conjunction with the installation of the plant in the exchange building, and when this activity is put in hand Gisborne people will see their hopes of many years being realised.

It is a long time since Gisborne was promised an automatic telephone exchange, and 10 years ago tenders were actually called for plant for installation in Gisborne, but at virtually the last moment some other centre received priority. With a war in progress there must be some degree of uncertainty regarding the arrival of the remainder of the equipment.