Ask Phoebe: 'Naff' name's source probably phone line to sugar refinery

Telephone Rd in Birkenhead. Photo / Paul Estcourt

My wife and I have just moved to a house in Telephone Rd in Birkenhead. While the house is great, I can't seem to get my head around the name of the road - it sounds a bit naff. Can you find out where it came from? Peter Topzand, Birkenhead.

Telephone Rd - and a pretty little street it is too - runs off Rugby Rd. Robyn at Birkenhead Library looked up the name in John Davenport's book Street Names of Auckland, and found this: Telephone Rd "may have led to the telephone line connecting the sugar refinery in the 19th century".

It also appears that part of the road was renamed Rugby Rd in 1913 or thereabouts, because "at the time this street received its name, rugby in England was well known not only for the public school where a certain ball game originated, but also for the fact that it was the centre of all radio-telegraphic transmissions in the United Kingdom". Hope this helps, Peter.

Is it possible to pay for a private test for swine flu? I'm pretty sure I have had it but would like to have my immunity confirmed before I go travelling. Where would I get the test done and how much would it cost? Ryan Jones, Auckland.

Immunity to a disease is discovered by testing for antibodies produced in the blood in response to an infection. At this stage, there is no swine flu antibodies test available in New Zealand.

Dr Lance Jennings, a virologist and member of the National Influenza Immunisation Strategy Group, says while such a test is being developed at a World Health Organisation laboratory in Melbourne, it is not yet ready for general use here.

And, from the less-than-helpful department, one person I spoke to suggested the only way to check would be to sit in a room with someone who has swine flu and see if you catch it.

For many years there has been a contractor's yard on the side of the new motorway, in Hendry Ave near Queenstown Rd. The contractor long ago finished the motorway lighting in the area and is now using the yard as a base for other projects. I was informed that the yard would be closed as part of a general clean-up by the time the motorway was opened. To date this has not happened. When will the contractor move out and our parkland be restored? Ray Trevarton, Hillsborough.

I apologise for the delay in responding to this question, Mr Trevarton. Although the Mt Roskill extension to SH20 was officially opened in May, when you wrote, the yard remained in use while the contractors finished off the installation of street lights in the area. This is done, the yard has now been vacated and the grassy area has been restored.