Changchun, Mar, 25, Though the ¥.8,000,000 which the Manchurian Telephone and Telegraph. Company have budgeted for new en~ terprises during this year is one mil-on tess than the expenditure in the year past, yet their field of activities is widening. A new 1 Kew. station is scheduled in this year's projects. Greatly increased cable equipment between Mukden snd Tientsin is also pilonnd, as part of the Japan-North China "connection, in which Manchuria serves as a reply.
"At least 600,000 yuan will go for new telegraph equipment; $,400,000 yuan for telephone equipment; 500.- {00 for radio apparatus; another halt million for other equipment, and the Balance of one million will be held in. reserve for' emergencies. The MTT. Ca, which is a joint governmental concern whose shares are held by Japan and Manchoukuo, is cing called on to control and extend lecitie communications in regions occupied by the Japanese Army.
Much Telephone' El Fifty-three new telegraph offices and extension of lines, twelve new telephone exchanges, and 23 new: offices and new. telephone lines, a change to automatic equipment "at Chiamussu, Antung and other places and an improvement in the Harbin equipment will provide for 5,000 new Subscribers in all. All this number will not provide for the total demand, the curious custom of buying numbers continues. New—subseribfers, outside the lucky 5,000 who Stand next in line on the list of applicants, can secure phones only bby buying the number of some exist~ ing subscriber and applying to have the phone moved to. their premises.
"An index of the Increased activities is found in the detailed returns of foreign trade of Manchoukuo. During 1996 telephonic and telegraphic instruments were. imported to declared value of 525,123 yuan. In 1037 the figure rose to 7,511,968 yuan. Most of this 41 per cent, " increase fell to Japan's share, America ceasing from 0S per cent of the folal in 1996, to 8 per cent, in 1097, Radio sets and parts to the value of 2,670,000, yuan made up 35. per cent. of the total.
The M.T-T, Ca. put on the market a series of inexpensive receiving sets, for the standard broadcast and Tong-wave bands, The latter was required because the 100 k.w. trans-inking, with its 1,668 metre wave-length, -was used largely for programmes in' Chinese, or as the authorities insist, "Manchoukuoan" Tanguage. The tuning of the new sels in that bad is very broad as was intended that the. Manchoukuoans should listen to only the one station, on 180 kilocycles. Several Soviet' stations, however, can heard in the long-wave band, which fg of course very undesirable from the: Japanese point of view.
"The use of short-wave receivers is banned, the reason given being that numbers of small, "portable shortwaves sets, used for communication with Siberia, have been captured,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.