Changes ring in as phonebook renamed White Pages

By JULIE MIDDLETON

You've probably called the residential phonebook the "white pages" for ages, reflecting its service directory cousin the Yellow Pages.

This week, as 2.8 million new sets of both directories are distributed throughout New Zealand, the name change has become permanent.

Ring the changes - the Telephone Book has been retired as a title. The White Pages now contain this year's home numbers: 347,000 residential listings, 1540 pages and is a hefty 1.85kg.

The new name, says Telecom Directories general manager Roger Shipp, brings the residential phonebook into line with other media.

But there are few other changes to disrupt your number-checking habits of years. The White Pages' new cover pointers tell you exactly where the medical, Government and emergency services listings are, saving all that early-page fumbling. Section colour-coding is more sophisticated.

As are the entries themselves. The number of entries that include 0800 numbers, fax, website, email or cellphone numbers alongside the usual name and address has increased 54 per cent over the last decade, says Mr Shipp.

In the Yellow Pages, improvements include more cross-referencing in the advertising pages. According to Mr Shipp, research has shown that men tend to plunge into the book without checking the index, and overlook it even after they have abandoned their search.

The point of all the changes, he says, is to make the books easier to use. And haven't they come a long way since 1888, when the first listings were published by the New Zealand Post and Telegraph Department.

The "book" was then one page, with many colonial names on it: Nathan, the Union Steamship Company, and even the Herald.

The city council office was in High St.

Because an operator was required to place calls, you could use the phone only between 9am and 5pm. And in case of fire, the number to call was ... 13.

Some of the old telephone books contain advice that seems highly anachronistic to us now.

The 1928 Official Telephone Directory advises callers to "always hang up receiver large end down".

But some suggestions about phone use still seem to apply. Subscribers were to be "particularly careful in giving the numbers five and nine - they are apt to sound alike over the telephone".

And, it added, in a section headed Courtesies, "the essence of telephone service is brevity".

Popular names

The most common surnames in Auckland's 2004 White Pages and the number of entries

Smith 1936

Brown 1036

Wilson 995

Taylor 956

Williams 940

Jones 896

Lee 658

Thompson 638

Anderson 609

Walker604

Clark 532

Scott 531

White 510

Young 510

Martin 501

Stewart 497

Harris 496

Johnson 480

Robinson 466

Wright 451

King 449

Thomas 440

Campbell 438

Patel 436

Hall 415