TELEPHONES

Hokitika Guardian, 18 August 1928, Page 1

TELEPHONES

AUSTRALIA’S CLAIM. CHEAPEST RATES IX THE WORLD. SYDNEY, Aug. !). Australia lias 409,000 telephones and the claim is made that the rates are the cheapest in the world. The Federal Treasurer (Dr Earle Page) the other (lay poured a bewildering cataract of statistics on the members of the Commercial Travellers’ Association, and in these he did not forget to include figures from New Zealand to substantiate his claim that Australian rates were lower than those charged bv nnv other country.

Dr I’age described the Postal Department as one of the biggest enterprises in Australia, which it undoubtedly is, for it collected last year a revenue of £12,01)0,000, and spent out of loan and revenue CI7.(Kit),(XK). Since 1023 the Department has increased its assets in New South Wales alone by £5.1000,000. and the revenue ill that State has risen by nearly £70!),000 in the same period. ‘ More than £20,00".(>Q9 has been spent to improve posts and telegraphs by putting in up-to-date- appliances.” said the Treasurer. “During the past live years the Post Office has spent more money in providing telephone communication than in the previous •If years and has doubled the number of telephones. General postal business has increased GO per cent. in the period during which the population has increased only 13 per cent. On the basis of 500 local calls and rent, an Australian country telephone service costs £5 Is 8d yearly, compared with £7 11s 8d in Britain. £7 in the United States, £6 in New Zealand and £5 12s Gd in Canada. 'Hie same boast is true of the metropolis, whore a service on the basis of 1000 calls a year costs £lO 4s 2d, compared with £l2 3s 4d in London, £ls in Wellington (X.Z.), and £l7 10s in Montreal. For trunk line services our rates are cheaper than those of any other country. An examination of rates lor 400 mile conversations reveals that a three-minute conversation in Australia costs' 4s 4d, with the reduced rate of 3s 3d for additional periods. In other countries the extension rate does not operate, and for a similar distance, and for three minutes, Britain charges 8s Gd, the United States 8s 4d, New Zealand 4s 7d, and Canada 10s 5d.” A New Zealander cannot help recalling the proud position which the New Zealand postal services once held, and the question naturally arises whether the Dominion is keeping pace with modern developments and modern requirements.