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Salient. Special Salient Issue. Careers Information Week. 1961

New North Island Communications

page 14

New North Island Communications

The new microwave coaxial toll link from Auckland to Wellington brought into operation in November of last year. With only twenty circuits between the two centres, delays had been frequent and serious, and with the constant growth in telephone traffic, were likely to become more so. Planning for the £2 million project had to take into account not only present, but also likely future demand. It demanded detailed research and broad vision. This telecommunications backbone to the North Island now provides its people with adequate, efficient service, and will continue to do so in the reasonably foreseeable future.

The new microwave coaxial toll link from Auckland to Wellington brought into operation in November of last year. With only twenty circuits between the two centres, delays had been frequent and serious, and with the constant growth in telephone traffic, were likely to become more so. Planning for the £2 million project had to take into account not only present, but also likely future demand. It demanded detailed research and broad vision. This telecommunications backbone to the North Island now provides its people with adequate, efficient service, and will continue to do so in the reasonably foreseeable future.

New Zealand Post Office

The Post Office is one of New Zealand's largest trading organisations, and the growth in its services is continuous and rapid. Last year its revenue totalled over £25 million. A far cry indeed from the £147 in 1841, its first year of operation.

It is important to remember its commercial character, even though the Post Office is a great public service. Its assets total over £100,000,000, and throughout the country it has over 24,000 permanent employees. For, wherever people go the Post Office and the communications services it provides go also. Not only are its services essential to the health of our economy, but the linking of people over the distances separating them is an important unifying factor in our society. This close link between the community and its systems of communication means that as the population increases and the economy expands, so too must all the services provided by the Post Office.

Statistics show that each year this happens; the volume of postal telegraph and telephone traffic goes up. A brief survey of this growth pattern gives some idea of the size of the Post Office's operations.

Postal

Last year 464,254,000 articles were posted, bringing the Post Office £6,157,058. Each year this total is increasing at an average rate of 13,000,000 articles, and it is interesting to note that about 58 per cent of the total are posted in the three centres of Wellington, Christchurch, and Auckland. Problems naturally arise in the handling of mail at these centres, especially as they are dispersed. It has become apparent that traditional methods of handling the flow of mail are inefficient and inadequate, and it is certain that in the near future programmes of streamlined and mechanised handling will have to be introduced. Detailed study of electronic and mechanical equipment in use in overseas mailrooms will have to be made to discover those most suited to our conditions, and to work out necessary modifications. Also, modern postal centres are planned for Christchurch. Auckland and Wellington.

Telegraph

The overseas trend for telegraph traffic is for much of it to be taken over by the telephone and leased teleprinter services. No doubt this has happened in New Zealand too, but population growth has disguised it and kept the figures for telegraph traffic stable. New Zealanders send an average of three telegrams per head per year, a total of 7.3 million telegrams last year, and are consequently the world's greatest telegram senders. The service yielded the Post Office £990,532 last year.

Last year New Zealand joined in the international telex service network, and subscribers can communicate via teleprinter direct with subscribers in twenty-six other countries. A real need is felt by businessmen and large concerns for an internal telex network, and it is hoped that this scheme will be able to be implemented shortly. At the moment, firms may lease direct point-to-point teleprinter circuits, and 269 do.

Telephones

With 30.85 telephones per 100 population, New Zealand ranks fifth in the world for telephone density. There are now 744,749 telephones and 504 telephone exchanges in the country. Although 53,600 telephones were installed last year, and new exchanges are being erected all the time, the Post Office has been unable to satisfy the demand for telephone service, and future expansion will have to be stepped up. Other future plans are to extend the areas in which subscriber dialling can be made, and to continue with the conversion from manual to automatic exchanges. Last year telephone rentals brought the Post Office £8,580,652, and toll charges £5,620,236.

Plans for Future Development

These then aresome of the plans for future development—new postal centres and mechanised mail handling in the larger centres, the establishment of an internal telex service, and the extension and further automatisation of the telephone service. It was in recognition of the extent of this development programme and of the need for financing it that the Post Office recently announced increases in its charges.

page 15

Although it has, for several years, shown a profit in its operations, only [unclear: t] small portion of its revenue was being directed into capital development, and finance for this was having to be found from loan monies. That this policy is not entirely satisfactory is evidenced by the annual interest bill on loans which now totals something over £3 million; money which could itself be better used for development purposes. In his report to the Postmaster-General, the Director-General of the Post Office, Mr. D. Donaldson, emphasized that expediency in meeting demands for communications services was no longer possible, and that the problems of future growth would have to be met face on. With [unclear: a] greater proportion of revenue being set aside for capital investment, services will be able to be improved and extended.

Need for Graduates

But such a development programme needs more than finance to make it possible. It needs administrators and planners with ability and foresight; men who are able to grasp the implications of existing situations and future probabilities, to decide on means of improvement or extension, and to put them into effect. Graduates with broad-based degrees are likely to have this necessary insight and breadth of understanding, and are also likely to be able to acquire necessary specialised training and knowledge quickly. We want your ability [unclear: o] think. We will give you the specific training you will need on the job.

Proposed new General Post Office and Postal Centre Building, Wellington.

Proposed new General Post Office and Postal Centre Building, Wellington.

Telex Exchange.

Telex Exchange.