The high pressure period for the Company began on August 12 when the S.V.C. mobilized and the liaison section of the Signal Company, in collaboration with the Telephone Company, immediately arranged for installations at all the vital points Occupied by volunteer units. Rush Jobs were performed everywhere as the various naval and fhilitary forces concerned in the defence of the Seitlement and the Concession were linked in the communication system.
The load of telephone calls handled during the opening days of the trouble was enormous. In the first week calls exceeded the normal volume of 320,000 daily by 150 per cent, So intense was the pressure of work on the staff that all efforts had to be devoted to the vital purpose of supplying essential military, naval and consular lines. and installations for ordinary members of the public were perforce temporarily shelved, Th delayed dialling tone which worried so many subscribers in the carly days of the emergency was due entirely to overloaded lines.
At one period the North and Way~ side exchanges of the Telephone Company were in the midst of heavy shell-fire.—Shraphel and bullets entered the latter building and did minor damage to the switching equipment, Fires in close proximity to the North exchange many times threatened to spread to the building. Nevertheless the exchange was manned continually and when the power supply failed owing to overhead wires succumbing to the fire blazing just opposite, prompt measures were taken by those on the spot to restore the service,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.