DEMAND FOR TELEPHONES.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 August 1921, Page 7

DEMAND FOR TELEPHONES.

TWO RECORDS ESTABLISHED. NEARLY 1,000,000 IN U>SE. The increase in the use of telephones in New Zealand was the subject of a statement at Auckland on Saturday oy the Postmaster-General, the Hon. J. U Coates. He stated that two records hau 1 been established by his department dur- i ing the past two years. Mr. Coates said that in 1919 a maximum number of 6000 telephones were installed, but during the last two years 16,000, or 8000 a year, had been linked up. “As a matter of fact,”, said the Minister, “this year the number will be well over 8000, as the waiting subscribers already ex'ceed this total. Last year we spent approximately over £400,000 out of the telegraph vote. This includes, of course, the cost of telegraph and telephone apparatus. The difficulty is to get the 8000 people waiting for telephones connected up. We would want about £900,000 to meet all demands on the service.” Mr. Coates said the number of telephones in use. and on order is now approaching 1,000,000. The department was working at full pressure, and was doing the maximum amount of development with the money at its disposal. Every particle of material in the country is being utilised, and improvising was being indulged in to a dangerous extent. In other words, every effort was being made to meet an extraordinary demand. It was interesting to know that, instead of decreasing, the applications for telephones were increasing at an alarming rate, notwithstanding the difficult period through which the Dominion was passing. “The plain fact of the matter,” said Mr. Coates, “is that the demands for telephones are swamping us, but, in spite of the crowding, the department has risen to the occasion.”