The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1915. THE TELEPHONE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 48, 26 October 1915, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1915. THE TELEPHONE.

Whether or riot the practice referred to below is a part of the New Zealand system ; we do not know but it certainly is very likely that it is, and some users of the telephone will he a littlej shocked, .doubtless, at the thought. The Sydney correspondent of the Press states that many people in his State were surprised when they learned for the first time the other ' day, in the course of Court evidence, i that officials of the Post and Tele- ! graph Department systematically listen to and make notes of conversations' which take place over the public telephone lines. The disclosure was made in, evidence given by an official of the department in n case

now being heard in Sydney, in which a contractor and military officers are accused of having conspired to extract undue profits out of foodstuffs supplied for military purposes. The revealing witness spoke especially oi the employment of the system of "tapping" telephone lines in cases in which people were suspected of being

concerned in transactions of the nature of trading with the enemy., But he made it known, also, that the ."listening" or "tapping" was resorted to for other purposes. For instance, if a business man complained of being charged for an excessive number of calls registered against his telephone, a departmental listener and notetaker would, for a period listen to every conversation over that line. He had discovered in such a case that the great, number of calls was due to the proclivity of the female employees of the business man lor ringing up their' "boys" when the ''boss" was out. The witness naively admitted that he| had been "astounded" at some of the supposedly very private talks which he had overheard. So much public discussion arose over .this disclosure of regular departmental listening to telephone talks that the PostmasterGeneral felt it expedient to make a formal statement in defence of the system and to tell the public that the "listeners" were sworn to secrecy excepting in cases like that in which die official told the Court in Sydney what he had known unknown to the

people engaged in conversation over the wires. As to the beneficial side of his official listening, the Postmas-ter-General of New South Wales says it has resulted in the thwarting of the evil designs of a person who attempted to use a telephone to wreck the happiness of an affianced pair.