Mar. 5.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 459

Illegal or Improper Use of Telephone.

73. The Minister may refuse to connect to a telephone exchange, or may disconnect from a telephone exchange, any place of business, house, or premises which in the opinion of the Minister is or are used for any illegal, immoral, or improper purpose, and may, either with or without previous notice, deprive of telephone-exchange service any subscriber who allows the telephone instruments in his custody or control to be damaged or destroyed, or to be put to any improper use, and may remove or cause to be removed any instruments allotted to the use of such subscriber. No person shall have any claim for damages or otherwise whatsoever in consequence of the refusal of the Minister to connect any place of business or house or premises with an exchange for any of the causes aforesaid, or in consequence of the removal of any instrument, or the exclusion of any subscriber aforesaid.

74. (1) Telephone messages shall not contain language of an objectionable, obscene, or offensive nature, or of a character calculated to provoke a breach of the peace; nor shall any telephone service be mischievously used for the purpose of irritating any person, or of conveying fictitious orders or instructions or fictitious messages of any kind.

(2) A subscriber shall not, without the authority of the Minister, use his telephone, or permit the same to be used, for the purpose of transmitting musical items, whether they be received by him by way of radio-broadcast reception or derived from mechanically operated musical instruments or otherwise.

(3) Any violation of this regulation by a subscriber or any member of his household, or by any person using the subscriber’s telephone, shall render the subscriber liable to have his telephone disconnected and any instruments and fittings belonging to the Minister removed, without prejudice to the right of the Minister to recover the rental and [or] other charges due under these regulations.

Interruption of Service.

75. The Minister or any officer of the Department shall not be liable to any action, claim, or demand for compensation for interruption of telephone service arising from any cause whatsoever; except that when a subscriber removes from one part of a town to another, and the Department is unable to provide him with telephone service within seven days, an allowance shall be made of the amount of the rental corresponding to the number of days during which the subscriber is deprived of telephone service.

Overloaded Lines.

76. With a view to reducing the number of “ineffective” calls due to overloaded lines the Minister may require any subscriber on whose line or lines the number of such calls exceeds 25 per cent. of the number of effective incoming calls to rent an additional circuit, in default of which telephone service may be refused.

New Exchanges.

77. Petitions for the establishment of telephone exchanges should be addressed to the Minister, and be accompanied by a list of the persons undertaking to become subscribers. Under ordinary circumstances an exchange will not be established unless applications for service are received from at least twenty-five prospective subscribers, and unless the estimated annual revenue is sufficient to cover the estimated annual expenditure.

78. The Minister may decline to establish a telephone exchange at any place at which, in his opinion, telephone-exchange service may be obtained from an existing exchange at a reasonable cost.

79. After the establishing of a new exchange is authorized, and before the work is commenced, each intending subscriber shall pay the prescribed service connection fee and enter into a contract with the Department in the approved form to rent a connection for a specified period.

PART II.—AUXILIARY SERVICES AND MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT.

Intercommunicating Services.

80. (1) Conditionally on subscribers undertaking to pay the cost of the labour and incidental expenses involved in installing the necessary apparatus, telephones and the associated wiring, telephones and switching facilities for intercommunication between various positions in the same premises shall be furnished and maintained at the following rates :—