CONTINUOUS TELEPHONE SERVICE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3308, 29 August 1911, Page 5

CONTINUOUS TELEPHONE SERVICE.

APPROVED BY THE HARBOR •BOARD.

“EXTRA CHARGE AN IMPOSI-

TION.”

The Gisborne Chamber of Commerce wrote to the Harbor Board yesterday asking the Board if they would favor a continuous telephone service, and if they were willing to pay the increased subscription. The chairman said that the payment of an extra £1 meant the Board would have to pay about £6 per year extra, as they had six telephones. He tnought it was an imposition.

Dr. Collins said that the installation of a continuous service would be a boon to the district, especially to the sick. The revenue to the Government would be about £IOOO and the cost would be about £l5O, and this he did not think was right. He moved :■ — “That the Board, while in entire sympathy with the movement for a continuous telephone service as suggested by the Chamber of Commerce, cannot see their way to accede to the request of signing the necessary documents forwarded by them, as the . difference between the Government receipts and expenditure in installation does not com-

pensate for the benefits received.” Mr. Smith pointed out that the Government were not likely to remit the charge when other towns in New Zealand had been paying the extra cost for a continuous service.

Dr. Collins said that that argument was not a very solid one. If all the towns which had got the continuous service had made representations to the Government on the subject they would not now have been faced with the present position., He thought that the Chamber should make the strongest representations to the Government on the matter. The motion was carried.