BETTER COMMUNICATION

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 22, 19 October 1937, Page 4

BETTER COMMUNICATION

New Gable Between Hastings & Napier TO CARRY 150 PAIRS OF LINES One of the major undertakings now being carried .out by the Post and Telegraph Department in this district is the laying of a . cable of telephonic and telegfaphic lines linking up Hastings and Napier, The material has aiready bceh ordered And it is boped to have the eable laid so that the improved service between the two towns will he embarked upon about thc same time as the new automatic telephonic systcm is inaugufated in Napier. . The new cable is to carry 150-pairs of lines and will make possible instantaneoub toll conne~ction between thb two tOAvns At present there are 29 lines and they are fully engaged. Itldeed at peak times there are occasional delays, certainly brief,- but nevertheless, there are delays and it is the aim of the department to do away with any possibility of a delay in the service. The new cable will be adequate to meet all predictable expansion of the telegiaphio and telephonic services for many years to come. . Costing approximately £10,000 the new cable which is armour-plated, ia to be laid undergrOund in acco'rdance with the latest ' principles and policy of the department, which is to do away with as much as possible of its equipment overhOad and place it underground. No doubt in due time this will be more pronounced and perhaps there wili come a time when all the equipment in Hastings will be underground. The department has aiready mapped out the rciute that the new cable is to take and brief mention of this was made at the last eneeting of the Hastings Borough Council when the department advised that it prqposed to lay a cable on a line approximately three feet from the boundary fence on the RaiF way reserve, from Mayfair avenue to the poixit where the council 's new out* fall sewer leaves the reserve. It was proposed to use the route in the reserve from the end of the Tomoana railway road, where the council 's sewer is built over the old Ngaruroro. river-bed, and to continue in the reserve to the ehd of the foad at Whakatu. As an alternatiye to this portion of the rpute it had been suggested that, instead of entering immediately from the Tomoana railway road On to the Railway reserve that -the cable be supported on the sewer structure over the old river bed and the council was asked to give its ngreement to this, which it did, provided there was no lability or cost to the council.