'The result has been an extension' of the system, though with different apparatus, and now the Central Exchange hat been fully equipper and very shortly will be entirely automatically operated. The change-lover is to be made gradually—som+ almost immediately—but it will be complete early next year. Again yesterday, a patty of pressmen were taken round, "under the guidance of Mr. P.' H. Cole, the engineer-in-chief and general manager, and experts did their very best to make the thing clear. The visitors took it in turn to interject innumerable appreciative affirma~ tives, but obviously were relieved when Mr. C. Int. Bain, chairman of the directors, with a twinkle in his eye, meaningly remarked:—"And now you know as much as I do, or perhaps a little more!" It is 3 fact that the automatic installation care for more details, one can refer them to a statement courteously prepared by th company, which The Rotary System The system installed in this exchange is known as the rotary'
tem and is manufactured by ths Standard Telephones & Cables, Ltd London, at their London' and Antwerp factories. The present installation is for 5,000 lines ard we intend to transfer single main Line telephones and also those sul scribers who have single main lines and one extension to the present equipment. We are installing a further extension of 5,000 lines, making a total of 10,000, and on this later 5,000 arrangements have been made' for those subscribers who have switchboards, or, in other words, private branch exchanges.
The rotary system has nearly three-quarters of a. million lines installed in various parts of the world, the principal countries being:—Belgium, 71,500; Denmark, 25,000; France, 68,000 of which 40,000' are being installed in Paris st the moment; Holland, 47,000; Hungary, 27,000; Italy, 20,000; Nev: Zealand, " 22,000; Norway, 46,000; Switzerland, 37,000; Spain, 140,000; end also many other countries, We have arranged to transfer the subscribers gradually, in batches of about 200 per week, 30 that they will Ret used to dialing and it will also enable our own staff to become more expert in the maintenance of the apparatus. We have already in ovr newspaper notices called special attention to the alteration of the numbers which are now five-digit on Central Exchange, as the fire! digit now represents the names of the various exchanges, and therefore -important that, before raising the telephone from the rest, a subscriber should ascertain *he feurrect number. ig a most amazing thing to view, and there are parts of it which really, do seem to think and reason out problems for themselves. One section is known to telephone engineers as "the brain."
layman, however, would be' absolutely at a loss to describe it. and all that can be said, after much Questioning and answering, and personal tests, is that it seems really te be fool-proof. It has been work ing entirely satisfactorily in many other places for.a long time, and the company has secured apparatus of proved utility. For those who
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.