23
10
No. 9 of 1925.
TELEPHONE.
TELEPHONE.
No. 9 of 1925.
Wires in
Victoria to
be placed
under- ground.
+
Improved
and efficient service to be provided and works
kept in
repair.
Company to provide testing circuits, etc.
+
29. The company shall at its own cost and charges place underground where practicable its wires or cables passing across or along any street in the City of Victoria.
30. The company shall maintain and operate the public telephone service in the Colony. The company shall also at all times during the continuance of the concession provide and maintain to the satisfaction of the Director a good, efficient and continuous service of public telephonic communication with modern appliances including all reasonable modern inventions. The company shall likewise provide buildings for its plant and offices, and shall keep in a good and sufficient state of repair all lines, cables, posts, attachments, plant and appliances necessary for the provision and maintenance of such service.
31-(1) The company shall establish at its own cost and keep in proper condition such number of testing circuits as the Director may reasonably require for the purpose of testing the insulation resistance of the conductors, and shall supply and keep in proper condition all such instruments for testing as the Director may approve, and shall supply energy to every testing station for the purpose of testing.
(2) The company shall afford to the Director all facilities for inspection and testing of its works and for the reading, testing and inspection of its testing instruments, and may, on each occasion of the testing of its works or the reading, testing or inspection of any testing instruments, be represented by an agent who may be present but shall not interfere with the reading, testing or inspection.
(3) On the occasion of the testing of any works of the company by the Director reasonable previous notice in writing thereof shall be given to the company, and the testing shall be carried out at such suitable hours as in the opinion of the Director will least interfere with the telephone service and in such manner as the Director may think fit, but except under the provisions of a written order made in each case in that behalf by the Director no person shall be entitled to have access to or interfere with the works of the company at any points other than those at which the company itself has access to the same:
+ As amended by Law Rev. Ord., 1939, Supp. Sched.
Provided that the company shall not be held responsible for any interruption of or irregularity in the telephone service which may be occasioned by or required by the Director for the purpose of any such testing as aforesaid:
Provided also that the testing shall not be made in regard to any particular portion of the works oftener than once in any one year except in pursuance of a written order made in each case in that behalf by the Director.
32. The company shall provide and equip to the satisfac- Specified tion of the Director, in reinforced concrete and brick or similar exchanges to be provided. fire-resisting material, in locations suitable for the purpose at + Victoria, the Peak District, in the neighbourhood of Quarry Bay, at Kowloon, New Kowloon and Taipo, and shall maintain ́and operate, suitable and adequate telephone exchanges, capable
of expansion to meet the following requirements—
in the City of Victoria-10,000 subscribers;
in the Peak District-500 subscribers;
in the neighbourhood of Quarry Bay-1,000 subscribers;
in Kowloon-10,000 subscribers;
in New Kowloon-1,000 subscribers;
in Taipo-500 subscribers,
and the company shall from time to time furnish such exchanges with all such fittings and apparatus as may be necessary to meet the requirements of such respective areas.
The company shall also, within such period of time as the Governor in Council may decide to be reasonable and after receipt of notice in that behalf from the Director, provide and equip in like manner such further exchanges as the Director may from time to time during the continuance of the concession by notice in writing require, but such further exchanges need not exceed in number two in that part of the Island of Hong Kong outside the boundaries of the City of Victoria and four in the New Territories. Each of such last mentioned exchanges shall be adequate for the requirements of the area concerned and shall be capable of such expansion as may appear to the Governor in Council to be reasonably necessary, and shall be
+ As amended by Law Rev. Ord., 1939, Supp. Sched.
24
Page 20Page 21
25