New Telephone Exchange

The new automatic telephone exchanges at Patutahi and Ngatapa were officially opened by Mrs Esme Tombleson M.P. at a ceremony in the Patutahi Hall last month.

During the ceremony, Mrs Tombleson put through the first call on the new exchanges, to the Postmaster-General, Mr A. E. Kinsella, in Wellington.

The opening was attended by a large number of the Patutahi and Ngatapa residents who will benefit greatly from this long-awaited advance in country communications.

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Mrs Tombleson making the first call through the Patutahi exchange. At left is Mr S. D. Briant (Patutahi resident), and at right is Mr P. E. Wanklyn (Ngatapa resident).

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Mr D. P. Lane, senior technician of the Gisborne branch of the N.Z. Post Office, explaining the exchange mechanism to Mrs Tombleson and Mr Wanklyn.

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A member of the N.Z. Post Office construction gang, Ron Clearwater, making some last-minute adjustments to the Patutahi exchange.