TELEPHONE EXTENSIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 224, 10 February 1913, Page 5

TELEPHONE EXTENSIONS.

MR. RHODES' VIEWS. (Per Press Association). Christchurel), Last Xight. Replying to a statement made by Mr. Ell, M.P., regarding the expenditure of votes for telephone and telegraph extensions, Mr. Rhodes, Postmaster-Gen-eral, in an interview, said tlut Mr. Ell's contention that applications for slot telephones were for sites within a district already covered with a network of telephone wires, was incorrect. "I am," he said, "perfectly well aware of the fact, but it does not by any means follow that they can be installed without expense, and the aggregation of such expenditure makes inroads on the amount, ' large as it may appear, available for the extensions of the telephone system, both in town and country districts. I can only say that I am fully seized of the necessity for extending the facilities of the telephone system, whether it be by means of slot telephones or otherwise, but I must be allowed to exercise my own judgment in the matter of tin* order in which the work must proceed. The enormous increase in the demand for connections with telephone exchanges throughout the. Dominion renders it absolutely necessary that the amount provided for this class of business is not exceeded. Mr. Ell's attempt to make it appear that the value, of the slot machines as revenue producers exceeds that of ordinary telephone exchange connections, is quite beside the question. One must be regarded as a corollary of the other, as without exchange subscribers the slot machines would be of little use. Tn any case the Government, must keep pace with the demand for these most necessary adjuncts of modern life."