NEW TELEPHONE ERA

Hokitika Guardian, 26 June 1924, Page 4

NEW TELEPHONE ERA

AFt KI.AXI) Tn DM'Kb

Si'll.MAlilNK CAULK A.NO UK I/AYS

WELLINGTON. J tine 21

The nnimuiuciucnt that the Post and Telegra; It Dcp-.'i tni-'iit will lay a continuously loaded iah!e for telephone | tti'i osi's across Cook Strait git os promise of telephone coininttuiraliou front Auckland to liliiiT. not by dint of auj'crliiiin:in power of speech, but actually '■till at least tile vase ol inier-eommu-liieatmn h. 'tween subscriber- ot the .-. ate •"•o-liaug". fills is to be made I o*-sil»!e by il.e adoption of an electrical relay which has made long-distance telephoning possible, lint for this invention, for which the re |tiiretneuts of w ireless have mainly t > be thanked, it would he impossible to early on pinetiouhlo I'timmeivi;.! .spot" It over stteh long distances. The limit under ordinary conditions i; cxp’.'sscd in engineering terms as about tlirly-live tnih-s of standard cable. The circuit between .Auckland and Wellington is / pial io lit teen miles of sta rnhirtl cable. From WeHiiigt ni iieru-K the ‘.trail Io the

beat'll near Seihlon. where the cab!? •rill be landed, means twelve illib's of standard sable, thence to t hri'lehmeh •mother twelve miles. Christchtiri h to Dunedin ten miles, Dunedin to Invercargill seven mile.--.. This provides A

total lo; technical purposes 'if lil'l \- •six miles, v. Inch would completely | lit out ol tlm ipiestion ii lci lioiiie i perch between A iickitiiid and the Mouth Island. hut by liieaus ol the iclay hist I liuieiii - v. e.ek (ireuits arrive at a I coo at wlin li they reieive an impulse minifying ihe original. This pmiess can he lejeated u herever the impulse drops I -low n | oinl at whit h the tele-hone users would have difficulty in heai ing .each other.

‘Jim relay hetween Auckland and Wellington would make telephonic ''ech as easy : ,s over seven or eight miles of standard cable. Other repealers in the South Island would act with equal elli' imicy in boosting up the original speech ini j nl-e. with the result that conveisat ion between Auckland anti luvercargiil would be as evsv as that conducted over twelve miles of standard etiile. though commercial .speech is passible over tliiity-five miles

of such a cable. I’KOFITABr.K WA ITfiS'tJ. It is on record that the telephone division by waiting a year or so before letting the contract for the Dtinodiu telephone exchange saved CIO.Opt) and that an almost similar amount was raved on the Wellington exchange contract. But an oven larger sum is likely to he gained to the Dominion tlnoilgll the decision of the chief telegraph engineer. Mr Mlirimpton, three years ago in iveomntending the rejection of tenders lor a continuously loaded telephone cable for Cook Strait, tho drop in prices

having heen enormous, i lenders will he called immediately ; and it is anticipated tiiat complete telephone inter-oomiimniention in the Dominion from North to South will he in operation hy February next. The relay system will honelit not only the route described, hut every other long distance circuit used hy suh. srriher.x. 'lhe West Coast will jr.st as easily talk with, the North Island as w ith Christchurch, possibly easier, when ! the electrical relay is introduced into the circuit. I When extremely high prices were I quoted for the special class of cable j needed for telephone purposes across I Cook Strait the department considered a wireless scheme for hiidging the gap connecting with ordinary land lines, hut the great reduction in the price of cables makes wireless more costly and ’ess efficient than what is to he ; installed. :