29
Magneto-multiple-manual switchboard. .__..___._.. _ et mmo
Magneto-multiple-manual switchboard with automatic clearing out lamp
BRETT. ce connie csi at 5058 Borys merase
Simple maceneto switechboards
8
——
-- 314
Seventeen of the 337 plants are used to relay long-distance calls.
TELEGRAPH
The telegraph services of the Netherland East Indies are chiefly
in the hands of the Government, although several private companies
also maintain services in various parts of the islands, namely, the
Deli Railway Co., the Netherlands Indian Railway Co., and the
Madura Steam Tram Co. At the end of 1929 the Government tele-
graph service owned 33,179 kilometers of overhead telegraph line,
11,616 kilometers of submarine cable, and 1,356 kilometers of under-
ground cable, a total of 46,151 kilometers of line. A total of 377
telegraph offices were in operation at the end of 1929, 223 of which
were located In Java and 154 in the Outer Possessions. In addition,
there are 580 Government railway telegraph offices and 193 private
railway offices.
Most of the telegraph apparatus has been purchased from Europe,
although some American equipment is in use. The following state-
ment furnished by the Netherlands Indian Telegraph service shows
the systems and types of apparatus in use at the end of 1929:
Telephones... _.
Morse_ _ _.._._.__
Syphon recorders__._.__.__. __
Wheatstone automatic nerforators.
Siemens rapids. _
Teletvpes. __.
CABLES
The Netherland East Indies Government Post and Telegraph
Department maintains an extensive cable system between the islands
in addition to the telephone and telegraph services on the mainland.
Cables connect the west coast of Sumatra with Batavia; Borneo with
Java, Menado, and Makassar; Banjermasin (Borneo) with Surabaya;
Makassar with Menado; and Tandjong Pinan, opposite the island
of Sincapore, with Batavia.
WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
The development of wireless communication has been more rapid
in the Netherland East Indies than in any other country in Asia.
The first wireless station was opened by the Government in 1911 at
Sabang, at the extreme northern end of Sumatra. Other stations
were erected with regularity, and at the end of 1929 the Government
owned 54 stations, 1 of which (Malabar) is in constant commercial
communication with radio stations throughout the world. At the
end of 1929 the press in Java announced that the Government was
planning a building program of 40 additional stations during the next
four years and that the estimated budget for construction of stations
at Macassar, Semarang, Menado, Palembang, Bandoeng, and Wel-
tevreden was 517,000 florins.