Farm Telephones in Yorkshire.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 23 August 1911, Page 4

Farm Telephones in Yorkshire.

A correspondent of tihe Ma.rk Lane Express \\ntes in a recent issue of that paper as follows:— 1 spent Saturday last at Mrandshy. the little Yorkshire village just made famous by the PostmasterGeneral, and. the scattered moorland village is just about the last place in the world, so you would imagine, to adopt the risky role of 'pioneer. In point of fact. Urands'by has marked out a path which fill agricultural England will probably soon foillow, for it is the one village in England wilier runs a special cheap telephone service for fanners. The village, in its corporate capacity, not unnaturally, now that the fact has been blazoned forth to the wrold, is immensely proud of its service and is disposed to claim credit both for public spirit and commercial enterprise. The truth is, however, that the village squire. Mr Fairfax Oholnicley, rather than the village fathers, was responsible lor the introduction of the system. A keen student of American methods of farming, he appreciated the value placed upon the telephone by agriculturists in

the States, and saw no valid reason wiry a trial should not be given to the instrument by English farmers. Warmly backed by the Postmas-ter-General and the high officials of the dep:u tiiKMit. Mr Chblmcley placed his pioposal for a cheap "telephone service before the farmers of the locality three years i\q;o. Several of them at once realised the possibilities which a farm telephone opened, up, but others rather impatiently dismissed the proposal as being cither Utopian or useless. Nothing daU'iLtcd the squire vigorously pursued iii« public-spirited propaganda and at last prevailed hipon .some of the leading fanners to give the telephone a trial. Ten of them consented to subscribe £3 per annum, and in return were promised a telephone instrument with an unlimited number of local calks. The sviteiu w<iS started in the November of la.st year, ajid as far as oiro can foresee, is likely to flourish exceedingly in the near future. Two " .larty wires serve the ten farmers—five bema; connected with one and five with the other. Each farm has a distinctive telephone ring— one long and one short, two long and two short, etr.—so that though the five bolls ring .simultaneously when a oa.il is made, a misunderstanding rarely arises. An unlimited nunmer of local calls, as I have mentioned, is allowed the ten subscribers in question and the scheduled fees are charged for trunk calls. The daily average number of tih'e form.jer is placed at between twenty and thirty, while trunk calls are also now made with comparative' frequ Micy. The many theoretical opinions up.m the possible value of the telephone to farmers advanced during the past week found ample .support from one of the subscribers in question. ' You must bear in mind." he remarked, at tho outset of an interview he was good enougflii to grant me, "that till* , telephone has only been installed at my farm for six months, so that it would beboth miivisc and unfair to attempt to dra.w any clearly defined conclusion.,, ijbill, I can say with truth that it has been of tlie utmost use to me and wJierever Oliolineley, th. scjuire, had to do a great deial oi persuasion before he could induce me to get a telephone, f tell you frankly that it would take him a vast amount more of persuasion, to make me give it up. Personally, I think the telephone will benefit the farmer most by enabling him to sefll his produce at tho to'p of the market. F'll give you an instance wbidh is very much to tho point. 1 wanted to sell 4i laige quantity of potatoes, but was determined, it possible. »f>t to sell them under L's ». ton. Tlie market began to rise, and, thanks to the telephone, i was able to book an order at the price in question, and to send the potatoes off immediately. Had I relied on the post for the purpose, at least twenty-lour hours would have boon lost •and when I tell you tihat the market promptly began to go down till it won!:! have •been difficult for me to have got £-1 a ton for thorn you will easily understand why I am now si believer in the telephone. Another instance of its uso also conies to my mind. Quit<> recently 1 learned over the tele•vhono th.'it the price of feeding cakes was likely to rise 5s per ton. and I was advised to buy promptly the supply needed, J did so. The price rose as anticipated, but I had effected my purpose. The telephone should also prove of the utmost use when corn is to be sold. A friend of mine, whose farm has Deen on the telephone for several years, has adopted a plan which some of ''•.; iuv likely to follow. H<? sells his corn over tho telephone instead of ;'.oi"g into town ililimsolf. He first forwards by post a snmple of the cor nto the merchant, whom he rings sip" on tlk< following day. Bargaining then takes place, and a sale is ireqiioiitly effected. The oiirta.ilment of time and expenditure as compared with a journey to the town, iinpiic'.i by such a method, is urettv o-bvioiis."

My ini'oi iiumt— a tall, finely built man, whoso ancestors left Scotland and .settled in Yorkshire as far back as the seventeenth century—told me ••.he telephone proved of great service in the ordinary rough and tumble of faim work. " "A broken implement which needed mending or replacing, he remarked, " used ofLen to result in a considerable loss of time, whereas now. if the occasion arises, I ring up the manufacturer if a new machine is tho only remedy and send down to meet the next train from town. If some repairs, merely, would solve the problem, titoen 1 communicate with the village blacksmith, who. like myself, is on tho telephone. In a similar way I am able Lo speak to the veterinary surgeon if I urgently require his presence on the farm."