MEMORANDUM.
214
1
:
I
I have recently had under consideration the reorganization
of the Government Telephone System and I am satisfied that the time
has come for establishing one Central Exchange and for abolishing the
aerial wires in the centre of the City.
2. Numerous complaints have reached me of the difficulty of
hearing over the lines and this is due to either induction or contact
with the aerial wires or the negligence of operators or both. The
former difficulty will be removed by putting the lines underground in cables and the latter obviated by having only one exchange under an
experienced Supervisor (in which the operators would be kept so busy that there would be no time to listen to messages) instead of a large
number of sub-exchanges under no supervision as at present.
3. The scheme now proposed is to establish one Central Exchange
in Room No.16 at present empty on the top floor of the Post Office
Building and all telephones in the system would be connected directly to this exchange. It would be in charge of one supervisor with five
operators (four by day and one by night) and a tester and would con-
tain the witch-boards, testing apparatus, etc.,etc.
4. From this Central Exchange, all the wires will run under-
ground in cables within the area between No.1 and No.7 Police
Stations. Beyond these points and in the case of a few isolated connections, the wires will be overhead. Enclosure BII clearly shows
the proposed lines.
5.
Enclosures AI and II show the existing aerial wires and
the 129 offices connected to the system, which contains no less than 10 exchanges requiring a staff of 11 operators at an annual cost of 25,280. This system contains 218 miles of aerial wires. Of these
120 miles are in the most congested part of the City and cost £,000
a year to maintain. The system is defective and obsolete because:-
(a). There is considerable obstruction in the principal streets
by poles and wires.
(b). These wires are constantly being tampered with by persons
making contact with overhanging structures from their
houses and the poles often have to be moved in order to