TELEGRAPH EXTENSION

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2624, 25 August 1923, Page 3

TELEGRAPH EXTENSION

WORK ACCOMPLISHED LAST YEAR. “The bulk of expenditure last year was incurred in developing the telephone system, which was extended during the year by the opening of twenty new manual exchanges and the connecting with these and other exchanges throughout the dominion of 10,200 subscribers, the greatest number yet connected in any financial year,” said the Minister in the course of the Public Works Statement. “The addition of new subscribers necessitated the providing of additional switchboard accommodation at twenty-five exchanges, and the installing of underground and aerial cables at a number of places where the pole-lines were so heavily laden as to make extension impracticable and maintenance a costly item. “The automatic telephone exchange system was extended during the year i >y the opening of a satellite exchange at Khandallah (Wellington) and the conversion of the Palmerston North exchange from manual ■to automatic working. In addition the automaticexchange systems in the Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington metropolitan areas and at Blenheim and Hamilton were extended by the installation of equipment for 2310 lines. In each case the installation was necessary to meet the present-day demand for telephone service. The installation of automatic exchanges is still proceeding at Auckland and several suburban exchanges in that area, and also at Wanganui. “The telegraph and telephone toll systems were extended during the year by the erection of 199 miles of new pole-line, carrying 1197 miles of wire, which considerably increases the carrying capacity of telegraph circuits, has been installed between Wellington and Auckland, and lias permitted a number of circuits previously required for telegraph purposes to become available for long-distance telephone communication. So much success has attended the introduction of this system that it is intended in the near future to further extend it by connecting Napier with Wellington and Auckland, and “The multiplex telegraph system, Christchurch and Dunedin. When these installations are completed the long-distance telephone facilities between these places will be considerably improved and extended without the erection of any additional circuits.”