Honolulu Republican, Volume IV, Number 504, 23 January 1902 — W. F. LEHIGH SATISFIED [ARTICLE]

W. F. LEHIGH SATISFIED

Will SOT MIKE BIDICiI CBISCES NEW TELEPHONE SUPERINTEND ENT INSPECTS COMPANY'S SYSTEM. Large Number of 'Phones in This City—Material For Lines Very Expensive But Rates on Instrument Cheaper Than on Lhe Coast —Very Few Complaints Made. W. F. Lehigh, the new superint ndent of the Telephone company of thi> city, is at present busy inspect ing th* company's lines in the varioils pans of the city. He has already lievn over a large number of them and will soon finish with the rest. He also intends to make a tri,. ■ around th** island to inspect the telephone Hr. £ in the outlying districts Mr. l.ehign is thoroughly satisfied with the present condition of the tele phone company and the manner in which it was run under Mr. Corcoran's management. He does not in tend to make any radical changes in the pr*-s<-nt system. Large Number of 'Phones Used. Th* 1 larg.- numb*f of telephoned here struck Mr. Lehigh as a p! asant , surprise and he intend.' to add to the number as much as possible. He states that the number of 'phones in proportion to the population compares very favorably with that of the cities in the States, and when th< white population and their instruments alone are counted, the number i' truly surprising. The service is used much more 1 here than in the cities of the Pacific eoast where Mr. Lehigh has been connected with the service, with the exception of Seattle, which city uses the telephone a great deal, tin average number of calls per telephone being about the same as in this city. The operators here are very good and, the fact that the service proves to be a satisfactory one is shown from ( the fact that Mr. Lehigh has never been in a place where so few comI laints were made of the service as in this city. Expenses are Heavy. The company here has to meet much heavier expenses for its ma t» rial than ar- generally paid in the States. Thus the poles, which are bought from local lumber firms, as the company never gets any large consignments for Itself, are much more costly here than they are in the States. All the otiuV mat* rial is also very expensive here. On the other hand there is a tendency on the part of the poles to last longer than they would on the Mainland on a<count of the equable climate here, i The wir*-s here last alniut the same length of time as they would in oth-, er places, with the exception of som< lines which are much hamp> red b> the heavy foliage here which oft-T rubs the insulation of the wires dur ing heavy winds, and thus spoils them. Charges are Reasonable. Notwithstanding the heavier expens*s for maintaining the system here the charges for the individual, telephones for the subscribers ar.-| much less than in the cities on th-coa-t Thus the* price in Seattle is t 4 a month for a 'phone in a business j office, while the price fur a private in strum nt is $•! a month. In Far. Francisco th* price for a privati tele-: phone js a month, allowing fort: connections. On ail connections above this an additional price of fivt cents a switch is charged, while in this city a telephone only costs It a month. Mr. Lehigh is e\<*e*dingly satisfiedwith his new position and also with , the island in general, to th.- climate . of which he give' especially much , praise. i