The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1921-01-19
PHONE is POPULAR
IN NEW ZEALAND
One Phone To Every Sixteen In
Acknowledgements Coming
ing Here to Study

New Zealand is giving the rest of
the world a good race in the per-
fection Of it's telephone and tele-
graph systems, said E. A. Shrimp
ton, NJ. l. E. E. chief engineer of
the telegraph and telephone depart
ment on the island dominion in an
interview at the general Offices of
the Western Electrical Company,
1875 Broadway. The concern has
IS, 900 telephones in use in New
Zealand, an average of one to every
sixteen inhabitants. Subscribers to
the phone system have ne.er been
solicited, a fact which makes ne
figures more to be wondered at.
The little island outpost of the
British Empire takes particular
pride in the fact har 1T mas develop
ed it's lines of communication to
! such an extent while the British
Isles can only boast of one tele-
phone to about every forty-seven
persons. Tels1honr rates in New
| Zealand have been increased this
year without in any way decreasing
the demands of new subscribers.
Mr.. Shrimpton told of the devel-
opment of the lines Of communica-
ton in New Zealand.
"Our first telephone exchange
was erected at Christ Church only
in $780," he stated, "yet today we
have 400 exchanges in a country of
only 100000 people. There is not
section in New Zealand where the
pedestrians cannot find telephone
line. We have installed a line to
"The Hermitage" at the peak of our
loftiest mountain"
The twenty-five subscribers to
the original system in 1880 were
not attracted by the low cost of
their new convenience. The rate at
that time was s125 year.
New Zealand has sent Mr.. Shrimp
ltr to the Un ted States to investi-
gate the latest developments in
telephone apparatus. In 1911 the
new automatic exchange system
was introduced into his department.
Since the war twenty-three Western
Electric rotary automatic exchanges
have been or will be put into use IN
New Zealand.
eve New Zealanders are the
greatest telegraph users in the
world" Mr.. Shrimpton remarked.
During 1919 our telegraph lines
carried more than 100000 mes
sages, a far higher average than, 1
believe, prevailed in the United
States. We never think of sending
Christmas post cards-all our good
wishes and short business communi-
cations are sent by wire.
At present New Zealand has su-
pervision over all the British wire
less stations in the Pacific. In addi-
tion to five in it's own territory Mr..
Shrimpton's department controls
the stations at Chatham Island,
Apia and Raratonga. Before the
war the station at Apia belonged to
Germany. 1t is more than 1900
miles away fryom headquarters at
New Zealand.-New York Sun.
81 am surprised to find how many
Americans believe New Zealand and
Australia are next door neighbors," I"
Mr.. Shrimpton sid: Eve are at least
1850 miles away from our sister
Dominion" Although no white man
touched our shores until Capt. Cook
appeared in 1859, only seven years
before your Declaration of 1nde-
pendence, more than rs per cent of
our citizens are native born. Of
these only $4,000 are Maoris, the
oiginal inhabitants of our island.
They are one of the greatest races
on the EARTH"