Posted by John Wilson on January 25, 2001 at 02:49:25 from 203.96.26.98:
In Reply to: Re: Copyright, Oscar Wilde etc. posted by Bruce A Clarke on January 24, 2001 at 03:49:27:
Peter, noted about copyright in EC now 70 not 50 years from death of author (USA?).
Bruce, New Zealand rotary telephone dials have the “0” in the usual place which takes the longest to dial (10 impulses), but then go 0-1-2 ... 7-8-9 so that the “9” is quickest to dial ie is only one impulse. Originally 9 (elsewhere 1) was not used to start a number as it was liable to get false calls from two wires touching, but in New Zealand alternative local service providers to Telecom New Zealand eg Clear and Saturn now have numbers starting with “9”. With Telecom numbers you can tell where anyone lives, eg in Auckland the North Shore numbers start with 4 and Western Suburbs with 5.
All NZ numbers were upped to seven digits in 1990-92 (mine is Wellington 478-8679) and there are only 5 area codes (03,04,07,08,09) plus 0800 the American style toll free numbers and 0900 for numbers you are charged to call (eg weather, sex lines). We now have letters on our phones for some 0800 numbers eg 0800 FLOORS.
While most of the world had rotary dials numbered 0-9-8 .... 2-1, I think Sweden’s were different. The British emergency number was 999 - the operator connected you to fire, police or ambulance; you did not get Scotland Yard! New Zealand has the equivalent ie 111 (though because of the TV programme, 911 also works). Australia is 000 and USA 911.
The NZ reverse-numbered rotary dials were supplied with early rotary automatic exchanges for Auckland and Wellington in the 1920s, possibly because of patent difficulties. Though other NZ cities got standard-numbered dials they were later changed to the same as Auckland and Wellington. The rotary exchanges installed in the main New Zealand cities between the wars were made by Western Electric in Antwerp for various European countries. The factory was originally owned by AT&T (Bell System, USA), but sold to the (deliberately) similar sounding IT&T (International Telephone & Telegraph) by Bell in 1925-26 in an early divesture agreement with the US Government.