462
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 16

93. The charges shall be as follows for each line so connected:—
    At an exchange with 201 subscribers and over, 10d. per month or 10s. per annum.
    At an exchange with 200 subscribers or less, 5d. per month or 5s. per annum.
    The fee as aforesaid shall be payable in advance, together with the ordinary telephone-exchange rental.

94. (1) The number of subscribers’ stations connected in one group shall not exceed ten in cases in which the whole of the lines so connected are individual lines, but if the lines connected together consist either partially or wholly of party lines the number of subscribers’ stations shall not exceed fourteen.
    (2) No line shall be connected with more than one group.
    (3) Prior to the formation of a group, the approved form of agreement shall be signed by each of the subscribers desirous of being so grouped, and before an additional subscriber may be added to the group a fresh agreement shall be signed by all the parties.
    (4) A party line shall not be connected with a group unless every subscriber on the party line signs the agreement.
    (5) The Department shall allot to subscribers special code-calls to be used exclusively for intercommunicating outside the ordinary hours of exchange attendance with other subscribers of a group.

95. Notwithstanding the provisions of these regulations, if the Department considers such an arrangement practicable, an exchange subscriber may, in case of sickness or other like emergency, be connected outside the ordinary hours of exchange attendance with a local medical practitioner or with a group of which a medical practitioner’s connection forms part, and such connection shall be free of charge. Such free night service shall be limited to the special requirements mentioned and to a period of one week.

PART IV.—PUBLIC CALL OFFICES (COIN-IN-THE-SLOT).

96. Public call offices may be installed at the discretion of the Minister in public streets and other approved places, for the purposes of affording the general public means of communicating by telephone with any subscriber’s station connected with the network of the exchange with which the public telephone is connected.

97. The charges for calls from public call offices shall be as follows:—
    When the public call office is—
    Within the base-rate area of the telephone exchange .. .. 1d.
    Within a distance of three miles beyond the base-rate area boundary of the telephone exchange .. .. 2d.
    Distant more than three miles beyond the base-rate area boundary of the telephone exchange .. .. 3d.

98. Telephones in public call offices shall be available only for communication with the subscribers’ stations connected with the network of the exchange with which the call office is connected, and only during the hours that such exchange is open.

99. The time-limit for each conversation from a public call office shall be three minutes, except that when no other person is waiting to use the telephone the time may be extended by another three minutes by depositing a second fee in the machine.

100. The instructions in the public call office directing users as to the procedure to be followed to obtain connection shall be precisely observed, otherwise the connection shall not be made even if an assurance is given that the coin has been deposited.

101. At the type of machine in which the coin is deposited before the exchange is called, the wanted line shall be tested, and if the line is found is be engaged or faulty, the coin shall be returned by means of the “reject” apparatus. No refund shall be given if through inattention, absence, or other fault on the part of the wanted subscriber, the necessary communication cannot be obtained.

102. At the type of machine from which the exchange is called, and the coin is afterwards deposited at the request of the attendant, the wanted line shall first be tested, and if the line is disengaged and in working order, the attendant shall then request the user of the public telephone to insert the coin or coins. The attendant shall then call on the required subscriber’s line, but if through inattention, absence, or other fault on the part of the wanted subscriber the necessary communication cannot be obtained, the money shall not be returned. If the wanted line is found to be engaged or faulty, the attendant shall advise the user of the public telephone accordingly, and no charge shall be made.

103. Should the attention of the wanted number be secured, but the person with whom it is desired to communicate not be brought to the telephone, the connection shall be paid for, having been completed as far as the Department is concerned.

104. No person other than an officer of the Department acting in the course of his duty shall use the telephone in any public call office without having deposited the prescribed fee as required by these regulations.

PART VIII.—PRIVATE TELEPHONE-LINES NOT ERECTED OR MAINTAINED BY THE DEPARTMENT.

Regulation 138 is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph thereto:—
(d) The written consent of the telephonist in charge of the toll station must be obtained before connecting the line to the premises of the toll station.

F. D. THOMSON,
Clerk of the Executive Council.