TELEPHONE WORLD

Hokitika Guardian, 24 May 1932, Page 2

TELEPHONE WORLD

X.Z. THIRD ON THE LIST. FIRST IN TELEGRAMS. WELLINGTON, May 23. Bv the favour ot Air S. Ij. ahuivw, chief statistician ot me American Telephone and leiegrnpia Lonipttny, tno.e lias been received in ue.nngion me bulletin of world statistics. Jne com-

pilation is a marvel or compreJiensive information in a most concise lorm. Jt is interesting to find tnat out oi tlie worid’s 31,336,4(57 telephones, private companies control ui.l pm - cent., and government ucpai tmenc cu. 9 per cciu. Over twenty millions of tiie connections are in the United States, and almost t.\o millions in Gloat- l.r.tam. Ae.c Zealand retains the proud position of having, per head of population, the position of third among tne nations oi the world, the United States -and Canada''being iim and second iespectively. After Ne.v Zeaianu, ivib.i ns tu._ t.

phones per 100 population, comes Denmark, Sweden, Australia, .Switzerland, ..orway, Germany, and Gieat Britain, in the order gi\en. Germany has 5 telephones per 100 population, and Great Britain 4.3. Frame is we.l down the list with only 2.8. Another feature about New Zealand’s telephones, is the more even distribution between cities hind smaller communities. Whereas in the United States and Canada there are approximately twice as many in the cities pel' 100 of pouulatiou, in New Zealand the figures are 12.2 per 100 in cities, and 9.2 per 100 elsewhere, San Francisco, with 40.2 telephones to every 100 people, is well ahead ol any city in the world. It is followed b.v Washington. with 34, and then Seattle, with 31.8.

There is however, one class oi communication in which New Zealand easily leads the world. We send 4.1 telegrams per annum for every one of our people. Next comes Australia, far behind, with 2.6 per head, the United States third with 1.8, and Canada fourth with 1.4. The statistics and diagrams are compressed into seven pages, and are issued without any comment whatever. This brief note attemps to garner points of particular interest to New Zealanders.