Holland 233 



and 7 P.M. till 9 P.M. ; and at Hilversum, 8 A.M. till 5 P.M., and 

 7 P.M. till 8.30 P.M. Messrs. Ribbink, van Bork & Co.'s exchanges 

 are open from 7 or 8 A.M. till 9 or 10 P.M., according to local require- 

 ments. They all have, however, a night service for the fire and 

 police offices and doctors. The Zutphen exchange is kept open 

 continuously for all kinds of traffic. 



SUBSCRIBERS' INSTRUMENTS 



The Netherlands Bell Company now employ magneto ringers 

 of substantial, but not uncommon, design, together with double- 

 pole receivers and the Groof form of Runnings transmitter, all of 

 Antwerp manufacture. There is, however, a goodly number of 

 Blake transmitters and single-pole receivers still in use. Messrs. 

 Ribbink, van Bork & Co., at their centres, use magneto ringers, 

 double-pole receivers, and a modified form of Berliner trans- 

 mitter, all manufactured by themselves. The Zutphen Telephone 

 Company use magneto ringers, double-pole receivers, and trans- 

 mitters manufactured by Messrs. Ericsson & Co., Stockholm. 



OUTSIDE WORK (LOCAL) 



i '5 mm. bronze wire, supported on small double-shed porce- 

 lain insulators, is now used in the towns instead of the original 

 galvanised steel. With few exceptions, the subscribers' lines in 

 Amsterdam and the other principal towns are single with earth 

 return ; but Vlaardingen and Amersfoort, the two latest centres of 

 the Netherlands Bell Company, are metallic circuit, and it has been 

 determined that all future ones shall be so likewise. The pole work 

 of the Netherlands Bell Company is exceedingly well executed. 

 In Belgium and Switzerland much attention is given to the design 

 of poles of the largest size from 50 to 80 feet which are often 

 both handsome and substantial, while their smaller work partakes 

 of the commonplace ; in Holland the design of the small poles 

 receives as much attention as that of the large, with the result that 

 the citizens do not complain of being affronted by ugly and evil- 

 smelling creosoted posts, such as are mostly affected in the United 

 Kingdom. Along the canals in Amsterdam and in the suburbs 

 (as well as in most of the other towns) one sees far- stretch ing routes 



