INTRICATE SYSTEM

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 526, 1 December 1928, Page 1

INTRICATE SYSTEM

AUCKLAND TELEPHONES MEETING PUBLIC DEMAND EXTENSIONS NEARLY READY Over 17,000 automatic telephones are in operation in Auckland. When the extensions and proposed extensions to the various exchanges throughout the city are complete, accommodation will be provided for over 23,000 subscribers. Many of these lines, however, will not be brought into operation for some years. The Immediate proposals are to install 3,000 more lines in the •'Wellesley Street exchange, 1,000 each at Remu- ( era and Mt. Eden, and 200 each at Takapuna and Onehunga. Ponaonby has 300 ready to switch over and Devonport nearly 200. Officials of the Post and Telegraph Department are at present busily engaged in completing the extensions to Remuera, Mt. Eden and Onehunga. These should ’ e finished within the next few months, when the waiting list of subscribers is expected to vanish. WORLD-WIDE DEMAND The department endeavours to look five years ahead with its exchange plant, but there is such a world-wide demand for automatic telephone equipment that it has been difficult for the factories to keep up the required supply of goods. Consequently, there has been some delay in supplies from overseas sufficient to meet the requirements of Auckland citizens. Wellesley Street exchange, the largest of its kind in New Zealand, has equipment for 7,600 subscribers installed. The building for the extension is now complete, and another 3,000 lines are to be installed there. Although this lot of 3,000 wires is expected to meet the public demand for the next five years, the department has not stopped at that. There will still be space in the extension for another 7,000 lines, to be installed when they are required. EXTENSION IN SUBURBS The Remuera exchange, which already has 2,400 operating subscribers, is to be extended by another 1,000 lines. These are being installed as quickly as the material comes to hand. There is sufficient space in the Remuera exchange to install 6,000 lines. Another 1,000 lines are being installed at Mt. Eden, where there are also 2,400 active subscribers at present. An extension to this exchange was completed less than two years ago, but much of the available space was soon taken up in supplying the rapid demand of citizens for telephones. If necessary, 6,000 subscribers could be accommodated in the Mt. Eden exchange, but it is not expected that the peak load will be reached for some years. Ponsonby has 2,100 operating subscribers, but there are another 300 lines ready to switch over as soon as they are required. The growth here has not been so rapid as in other centres in Auckland, but an exchange was built capable of accommodating 2,400 lines. An extension to the Devonport exchange has just been completed, and of the 800 lines there over 600 are active. Preparation is being made here for. still another extension. Takapuna exchange has equipment for 400 subscribers, nearly all of which are working. Another extension of 200 lines is being installed at present. DELICATE MECHANISM Onehunga, which is known as a satelite exchange, has 400 working lines and another 200 in the process of installation. This will tax the exchange to its utmost and the building will have to be extended when the 600 lines are taken ip by subscribers. The installation of the automatic telephone is a deljcate operation which can be done only by skilled mechanicians. The mechanism is elaborate and extremely delicate, and the fitting of its minute parts must be done most accurately, otherwise a whole system might become faulty.