AUTOMATIC PHONES IN NAPIER

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 163, 28 July 1937, Page 14

AUTOMATIC PHONES IN NAPIER

Exchange Building Ready; ; Equipment Awaited ASSEMBLY PRQBLEMS The new automatic exchange building in Napier is now in the final stages j of construction and in a few davs will j be quite ready to receive the automatic apparatus which is to be installed. The fitting of the machinery, however, is expected to occupy from 12 to 38 months, and dt will be almost tho end of next year before the new eystem will have replaced the manual exchange adopted after the earthquake. , JNo word has yet been received regaruing "the arrival of the machinery, \/nicii is due. from England some time next month. It ia nofc anticipaced tuai any great delay will be experienced, except that the snipmeut niay be nexu up to awafct a suip that is calling u, Napier. J The unloading of the apparatus and complementary machinery will presont a big problem, as part of it is to be assembled in Eng.and before being shipped. Therefore, if the delay or about one month will eliminato ■ the necessity for carrying dt by rail, it is chougnt that advantage will be tgken of tlie opportunity. • The wiring of the apparatus, once it has arrived, will be a long and complicated task, Owing to thc fact that the machinery must be assembled seetlon by section, with each part tested before the other is assembled, a limited number- of electricians only will be employed. Towards the end of the task, the • subsidiary one of wiring ihe houses of the subscribers for the new telephones will take place,' so that for some time there will be two telephones, a manual one and- an automatic oae, in each house, and the switching- over from one system to the . other, done from the exchange building, will be carried out at an hour when the burden of calls . is. at its lowest, probably at midnight on a Sunday or at two "o'clock the following morning. The equipment itself is the most up-to-date in the realms of automatic telephone apparatus, opportunity having been taken to embody the latest improvements ili the system. The equipment is of similar' design to that at presenfc in use in Hastings, with the addition of mdnor improvements in fittings. "