111 is also the emergency number in some countries - here in NZ some time back in the '30s some post office functionary bought a while bunch of dial phones on t

111 is also the emergency number in some countries - here in NZ some time back in the '30s some post office functionary bought a while bunch of dial phones on the cheap - because they had the numbers on the dial the other way around from what was becoming the standard elsewhere - hence 111 as the emergency number - worked great for 40-50 years until international direct dial became a thing .... these days we accept 111 911 999 112 as synonyms