EARLY TELEPHONE SYSTEMS.

Shannon News, 5 April 1927, Page 2

EARLY TELEPHONE SYSTEMS.

The first telephone exchange in Lon- [ don was opened in 1880. It is a remarkable, but sufficiently well-authenti- [ cated, fact that a year prior to this a [ telephone bureau was opened in a small village in New Zealand, 12,000 miles away from London (says the Otago Daily Times). The telephone era began in 1878. Many years ago Mr. J. K. Logan, who then occupied the position of Superintendent of Telegraphs, stated at a social gathering in Wellington that the first pair of telephones used in New Zealand, made from drawings in the Scientific American, were tried in Wellington and proved a success. The second pair were brought into use by Messrs. Cargill and Anderson in February, 1878, from Eoxburgh to their station, six miles away. '' Probably, *' Mr. Logan said, "the first telephone office in the world used for the transmission of public telegrams was established at the beginning of 1879 at Portobello, Otago Peninsula. '' This seemed at the time to be an extraordinary statement, and, at the request of Mr. W. Ridley, the owner of the premises at Portobello in which the telephone was installed, inquiries were made by Mr. A* D. Lubecki, at that time officer in charge of telegraphs in Dunedin, as to the authenticity of it. The investigations made by Mr. Lubecki confirmed Mr. Logan's statement to the extent that no instance was cited of the establishment of a public telephone bureau at any date earlier than that at which the bureau in Portobello was opened. The primary object of this bureau w.as to admit of telephone communication with the lighthouses at Taiaroa Head and Cape Saunders.