INTER-ISLAND TELEPHONE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 123, 15 August 1927, Page 16

INTER-ISLAND TELEPHONE

BUSINESS INCREASING 150 CALLS A DAY ( Special to THE BUN.) WELLINGTON, Sunday. Since the inter-island telephone service was inaugurated on July 6, the daily number of calls has averaged nearly 150. For a newly-inaugurated service the line is enjoying a good measure of popularity and increasing use is being made of it every week. Post and Telegraph Department figures show that, from the time the line was opened for general traffic on July 6, until August 1, 3,656 calls were dealt with, 1,332 of these being from Wellington to the South Island, and 1,685 from the South Island to Wellington. The remaining 639 calls were conversations between centres beyond the cities of Wellington and Christchurch. Aucklanders have not conversed so freely with the South Island over the new wire as residents of Wellington. On July 28 and 29, seven calls were put through from Auckland to the South Island, while three South Island subscribers rang up friends in the northern city. Auckland, however, is not directly connected with the new line, which goes only as far north as Marton and Wanganui, where connections have to be made with the ordinary land line, which does not have the apparatus for amplifying the tones of the conversation.