Nov. 30.
The report on the Telephone Ca, made by Mr. B. 0. Anson to the Council and published {a yesterday's Gazette, is pretty cold comfort, The only final remedy in Mr, Anson's opinion lies in complete conversion to automatic working; our troubles now are "due to the mixing of a. highly modern automatic system with an obsolete magneto manual system operated under extremely difficult condition: but this conversion cannot be accomplished in less than two ears, and only then if pushed "with determination." And make the telephone efficient will cost, Tls. 8,000,000, Inevital increase of rates is foreshadow-edi: Charges'have been too low, dividends too high and everyone now must pay for it. Mr, Anson 3 to have been warned [Mfovel which greeted. the itoly of the chorus of dis-
Company's proposal to introduce a message rate. He therefore suggests'a graduated flat rate by way of tempering the wind to the shorn lamb. Even thus we shall all have to be much less lavish in using the telephone.
The report is incisive but fair-minded. Mr. Anson does not hesitate to speak plainly, but he apportions criticism evenly. There are some amusing passages on the sins of subscribers the influential ladies who refuse to deal with anyone lower than a supervisor; others who bribe ators to give them preferential treatment; and the practice (how many of us are not guilty?) of leaving off the receiver and otherwise bottling up the bell when we want to sleep. There is more than enough criticism of the Company to enable us to swallow these charges philosophically. Complaints during the past summer rose to as many as 600 in a day, and it is clear that Mr. Anson thinks them in the main justified, Observation has shown him that "subscribers suffer from an abnormal number of engaged' and no reply' cases, also that there is a considerable amount of faint speech transmission and there is plenty of explo: tion in the defectiveness of the plant. Here we are to a large extent suffering for the sins of the fathers, purchase in the past of inferior apparatus, and failure to renew. Thus Mr. Anson cannot understand the need at thi late date for conversion of the existing magneto switchboards telephones to the obviously superior central battery system:. When the Central exchange was installed in 1908, the central battery system had already been in common use for several years. He also severely criticizes the unusual arrangement in Shanghai whereby the speech current is supplied by a single dry cell battery. It is the standard practice throughout the world when local patte are in use for two colls to be supplied. The provision of one cell means an inadequate current under normal condit and a very slight {fault will render service inefficient fas there is not the second cell to rely upon as would be the ease with the two cell system.
The present condition of the external plant is appalling some of the older cables, th ducts are now choked," repair is impossible and there is nothing to do but abandon them; the wire in subscribers' office is very old and largely needs renewing; and whenever one overhead wire is being repaired it is extremely difficult to avoid damaging another.
Coming to the present management, Mr. Anson has to. find fault'with the policy followed changing over from manual autem: Money was an admitted difficulty, but there were two policies in conflict, "go slow" versus "go fast"—a case, in fact, of "letting I dare not wait upon I would." Mr. Anson considers that "the Company did not provide sufficient safeguards for the service in the plan (of conve: sion) which was evolved." The often-heard excuse of enormous increase in the use of telephones in recent: years, overtaxing the Company's resources, in brushed on one side with the comment that an examination of the figures indicates that the development to-day is not more than might have been anticipated six or seven years ago. Telephone development follows a compound interest law and the rate of growth on this basis has fallen land. not increased since 1923. It was 13 per cent. in 1923 and was 9.8 last year.
Which is rather a facer for the Company. In this connection. it be noted that, although a sum of about Tls. 3,000,000 has been accumulated in "depreciation account," "practically-none" of the Company's plant has been renewed. Mr. Anson speaks with full approval of the Rotary
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.