New Telephones For Vila

From Our Own Correspondent VILA, April 18 SINCE the arrival back from leave of Postmaster H. Richards, plans for the overall repair, improvement and extension of Vila’s telephone service have been put into operation.

The present service is conducted from a central exchange and covers only the im mediate area of the township. The majority of phones at the moment are American field service types left behind or given away as gifts when the US forces left the New Hebrides after the war. Much of the wire falls into the same category.

The local landscape is latticed by a bewildering array of telephone wire. Some lines just run to a coconut palm and stop there! Many lines were blown down in the recent hurricane. In fact, since then, few phones in Vila have worked at all.

Lines are strung on trees, palms, odd poles and fences. Services disrupted by the hurricane have not been repaired. This is the fault of no one, however. All broken lines will be replaced with new ones.

The new scheme calls for planned routes, concrete poles, and new phones.

So perhaps, gone forever, are the days when, if your line fell down, you just weren’t in the phone book anymore.

Dr. and Mrs. A. J. May of Port Moresby, were guests at the official At Home held by the Royal Australian College of Physicians Sydney, on April 11. The reception marked the opening of the annual meeting of the college.