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been provided for in the original orders. The twenty-one systems will be installed between the following centres : — Auckland-Whangarei .. .. .. Two systems. Auckland-Tauranga .. .. • • • • One system. Auckland-Rotorua .. .. • • .. One system. Auckland-Hamilton .. .. • • • ■ One system. Auckland-Napier .. .. • • .. One system. Auckland-New Plymouth .. .. • ■ One system. Napier-Gisborne .. .. • ■ .. One system. Wellington-Napier .. . . • • • • Two systems. Wellington-New Plymouth . . . . • • One system. Wellington-Wanganui .. .. .. One system. Wellington-Palmerston North . . ■ • One system.. Wellington-Seddon . . . . . . . . Two systems. Seddon-Christchurch .. • • .. Two systems. Christchurch-Greymouth . . . . • • One system. Christchurch-Dunedin .. • • • • Two systems. Dunedin-Invercargill .. • • • ■ One system. The equipment for one of the Auckland-Whangarei systems is now being installed, and it is expected that this system will be ready for operation in September. A further system which has just been received from the manufacturers is about to be installed between Wellington and Christchurch, and it is anticipated that all of the twenty-one systems will be in operation by July, 1938. When brought into commission these additional systems will effect a very marked improvement in the speed and quality of the long-distance toll service throughout the Dominion. To provide modern facilities to deal with the growth of toll traffic in the Auckland-Waikato - East Coast districts centring on Hamilton, a new toll switchboard has been ordered for installation at that centre to replace the existing toll switchboard. The new board will make provision for the employment of fourteen toll operators simultaneously, and will incorporate the latest standaids for handling toll traffic. INTER-ISLAND TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION CHANNELS. The new single-core, coaxial type cable designed for high-frequency carriercurrent operation, which was ordered for use between the North and South Islands, arrived from England in May of this year, and arrangements were made with Cable and Wireless, Ltd., London, for the laying of the cable to be undertaken by the cable steamer " Recorder." The cable-laying operations were completed on the 23rd June. In order to afford immediate relief of the congestion on the inter-Island toll circuits, a three-channel carrier system is being installed between Wellington and Christchurch by utilizing the new cable as the Cook Strait connecting-link. The installation of this three-channel system will enable the Department to provide three additional telephone channels between Wellington and Christchurch and one additional telephone circuit between Wellington and Blenheim. It is expected that these additional facilities will be available before the end of October, 1937. Later in the year, when the specially designed carrier system for the new cable has been received and installed, a total of six additional toll channels instead of three will become available for use between Wellington and Christchurch over the new cable. As the toll business expands it will be practicable to extend the inter-Island facilities over the new cable from time to time by the installation of additional carrier terminal equipment up to the stage at which the cable will be carrying twenty-three telephone channels and as many as thirty-six two-way machine-printing telegraph channels, which represents the ultimate capacity of the new coaxial cable.

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