Dec. 17.
'THe request we made last week for' some explanation of the new rates for telephone service which come into operation next month has brought us a great deal of correspond ence from both sides, And it is hardly necessary to add that while readers think we have been far too tender to the Company, the Company hold precisoly the opposite view. Which is the normal fate of anyone who tries to be impartial. In point. of fact we had no wish to be kind or unkind, We are sure that some people take an exaggerated view of the shortcomings of Shanghai telephones, as compared with the much worse service found in many other places and especially ro-membering the combined necessity and difficulty of working with Chinese operators; and we Suggested that the new rates would be better received, if people knew why they were charged.
There are two misunderstandings which should first be cleared away. One was our mistake wwe must confess: the periodical revision -of rates is to be every five years, not ten, that being the period for renewal of franchise. The other misapprehension concerns the Tls. 16 deposit. This will not be levied on all subscribers, bit only on those who pay at, the message rate, such as teashops, restaur rants and the-like.. Where. the flat rate' is. d Ix the. subs scription: cam. be- collected: in advance; where message rates obtain, payment is naturally made on the number of calls in a given period, and the Company. secures itself against default by requiring a deposit some grocery shops do. is certainly not unreasonable and, incidentally, the innovation only affects between five and six hundred subscribers among the many. thousands who use the telephone.
Now as regards the increase in rates amounting to about 15 per cent, for residents' telephones and about 20 in business houses, the Company in their negotiations with the Council, were faced with the necessity of making an estimate of capital expenditure for five years to come and that, it may fairly be conceded, is not an ensy thing to do, especially in a. business like telephone- operation. For that is unlike ordinary industrial concerns, in that the greater the number of telephones in use, the larger (not smaller) becomes the cost per instrument, each having to be linked up with those already in existence, and thus requiring an ever-increasing number wires. The first estimates of their requirements submitted by the Company were considered too high by the Council and were cut down to the rates now announced. This fact is not unduly impressive as of course there is natural tendency on the part of every bargainer to ask more in the first place than he is prepared to accept, and the Company would have been Jess than human if they had not allowed for trimming by the Council. But that Shanghat will still be getting its telephones cheaper than many other big cities will be seen from the following table of comparisons, rates for telephones in business, houses being taken:—
Loxdon—£8.0.0 per annum and Id. per call in Inner London Zone 11 num and Lid. per call within 5 mile radius 129.50 'Toxvo—Yen 40. per annum and 2 sen per call (Me evease now under cone sideration for Automa-tie) inves 53.42 MANt-A—Rates' increased in 117.00 gestion H.$154 Cham. ber of Commerce Com. mittee 1.§120 when Aus tomatic or other improved system is installed 86.40
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.