F—l

Number of Applications for Telephone Service The number of people waiting for telephones continues to grow. At the 31st March, 1948, the number of waiting applicants was 41,292. This figure has now risen to 48,378, despite the fact that during the year 21,067 new subscribers were joined up. The demand for service to-day has no relation to the demand before the war. In the last decade the number of subscribers has increased by 80,687, or 51 per cent. The people of New Zealand have become particularly telephone conscious and are showing the same eagerness for telephone service as they are for electric power and other labour-saving amenities. There appears to be an almost inexhaustible field for telephone development in New Zealand. This unprecedented demand has necessitated a complete reorientation of ideas on future planning.

New and Pending Installations The following schedule indicates the new equipment installed during the year and that at present under installation to provide relief at the larger automatic exchanges:—

All the equipment for the new automatic exchange at Nelson is now on hand. The exchange building is in course of erection, and the work of installing the equipment will commence as soon as the building is ready. In the meantime a small extension is being made to the manual equipment to provide for urgent connections.

13

Place. Capacity of Equipment Provided During Year. Capacity of Equipment Under Installation. Auckland Area— Subscribers. i Subscribers. *Ponsonby .. .. .. 900 *Tamaki .. .. .. 120 Three Kings 900 Christchureh area— *Lyttelton 150 *Riccarton 900 *Sumner 500 Dunedin Area— Andersons Bay 60 * Dunedin Central .. 1,500 * Ravensbourne 225 South Dunedin 440 Wellington Area— *Kilbirnie 1,125 f Lower Hutt .. 5,000 *Naenae 1,125 Other Centres — *Blenheim 600 Dannevirke 300 Gisborne 400 Hawera 300 Marton .. .. .. - .. 100 Napier 400 i'New Plymouth 4,800 *Oamaru .. 400 *Palmerston North 500 Stratford 300 Timaru 900 Whangarei 1,100 * This equipment is of a temporary nature and will later be replaced with new automatic switching equipment. f New exchange replacing existing exchange.