Historical Notes about
Antigonish & Sherbrooke Telephone Company Ltd.
Service area: In Guysborough County, Sherbrooke...
The following letter gives a general description of the Company's system as it was in the spring of 1905. It was printed on pages 799 and 800 of the Report of of the Select Committee appointed to inquire into the Various Telephone Systems in Operation in Canada and Elsewhere, Session No. 24, May 17, 1905, held in Committee Room No. 20, House of Commons, Ottawa.
The Antigonish & Sherbrooke Telephone Company Limited
Head Office, Sherbrooke, N.S.
May 13, 1905
Sir William Mulock, K.C.M.G.,
Postmaster General and Chairman Select Committee on Telephones,
Ottawa.
Dear Sir, – I have the honour of replying to yours of the 1st instant, requesting answers to a long list of questions inclosed. Our directors had this matter before them last week, and the full particulars, as far as we could give them, were sent to Mr. McIsaac, M.P., for Antigonish, by the Rev. M. M.. Doyle. I also wrote our representative, Mr. Sinclair. Both of those gentlemen are well acquainted with our system, and the territory through which it operates.
We did not commence operations until late in May of 1904, and many of your questions we could not answer, but we find that our farmers and fishermen in isolated sections are very anxious to have the line come as near to them as possible. I inclose a statement I sent out with our last call, which may be of some service. The Nova Scotia Telephone Company wish and have restricted us to certain territory, and we are practically bound to them by having purchased our telephones, switchboards, &c., from them, in order to get connections with their systems for long-distance work. If we have not already furnished all information necessary we will endeavour to answer any further questions you
may ask.
I have the honour to be, sir,
Your obedient servant,
JAMES MacDONALD, Secretary
STATEMENT (attached to letter)
The company has now in operation 170 miles of telephone lines, with 83 telephones, including two instruments ordered and daily expected, and there is a constant demand, both for the extension of their lines, and for the instalment of more instruments in the territory already covered.
The yearly rentals of the above 83 telephones aggregate $1,500, and the long-distance tolls earned will at a low estimate (based on the experience of the past months) bring the company's income, even without any extension beyond its present capacity, up to $1,800 a year. It is proposed to put $500 a year to the credit of a sinking fund, and it is estimated that $500 more will cover the ordinary yearly expenses of the company, leaving a surplus (besides sinking fund) of $800 a year. The capital already expended is about $7,000. The earning capacity is therefore very good.
There is a proposed and probable extension for this spring from Marie Joseph to Port Dufferin, 26 miles, and a possible extension from Goshen to Isaac's Harbour about 30 miles. These two connections would give at a low estimate 40 telephones, which added to those already in operation would increase the company's income very much.
Yours truly,
JAMES R. MacDONALD, Secretary
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