THE TELEPHONE SERVICE.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 August 1922, Page 4

THE TELEPHONE SERVICE.

THE REGENT COMPLAINT STATEMENT BY CORONER. With reference to the complaint made at a recent inquest concerning the inability of the postmistress at Rahotu to communicate 'by telephone with the New Plymouth hospital, and the Coroner’s remark that he would ask that inquiries be made into the circumstances, Mr. A. M. Mowlem informed a Daily News reporter on Saturday morning that he had received a reply to his letter from the chief postmaster at New Plymouth. The postmaster stated that two faults had been located in the line, rendering it impossible for the postmistress to communicate with New Plymouth on the night referred to, but they had, been corrected next morning. Humanly speaking there should be no recurrence of the trouble.

Commenting on the matter, Mr. Mowlem said that as edroner he was glad to learn from the report of the postmaster that the failure of Rahotu to connect with New Plymouth and, through them, to the hospital, was due to the fault pointed out in his letter. “At the time the complaint was made,” Mr. Mowlem added, “there was no reefletion of any kind as a fact cast upon the local hospital, either by the witness who made the complaint or by the Coroner himself, and any report to the contrary is quite erroneous. It is comforting, indeed, to know that the postmaster says that, humanly speaking, there should be no recurrence of the trouble which unfortunately occurred in this instance.”