§ Mr. LAMBasked the Postmaster-General what are the rental charges for telephones in rural areas in Great Britain and in any British Dominions and foreign countries for which the information is available?
§ Viscount WOLMER,pursuant to his reply [OFFICIAL REPORT, 7th March, 1927, col. 847, Vol. 203] supplied the following statement:
Great Britain.
The various services available in rural areas in Great Britain and the rates
1066Wclerical officer posts in the Accountant-General Department, London, filled by the promotion of writing assistants and typing grades, respectively, and by limited competition entrants, open competition entrants, and transferees from other branches, respectively, during each year since the clerical class came into existence, together with the number of writing assistants and typing grade staff who were eligible for promotion during each of the years in question?
§ Sir W. MITCHELL-THOMSONThe reply to the first part of the question is as follows:—
charged for them are given on pages 110–111 of the Post Office Guide.
The following is the latest information available about a few British Dominions and foreign countries:
I shall be glad to give any further information the hon. Member may desire.
Germany.
An initial installation charge of 90 rentenmarks is payable.
Subscribers over 5 km. from the exchange pay an excess mileage rental of 6 rentenmarks a year per 100 metres distance in excess of the 5 km.
As regards calls in areas with less than 50 subscribers, a minimum number of 20 per month must be paid for. The charges for excess calls are:
1–100 calls per month, 15 pf. per call.
101–200 calls per month, 14 pf. per call, etc.
These rates are believed to have been recently revised; but no particulars are yet available.
1067WSouth Africa.
Party lines for subscribers outside the radius ordinarily served by the exchange (1 to 2 miles).
For each telephone station on the line, £1 10s. per annum.
For each ¼ mile or portion thereof of the circuit, £ 2s. 6d. per annum.
Total rental charge is apportioned equally among the parties sharing the line with a minimum of £3 per renter per annum.
The administration reserves the right to connect as many as 10 stations on one line.
Calls.
Free in local area. Normal trunk fees apply elsewhere.
New Zealand.
The service rates in respect of rural-line stations are as follows:
Services Rates. Class of Exchange. Business Stations. Residential Stations. £ s. d. £ s. d. Exchanges with 200–3,500 subs 3 10 0 2 0 0 Exchanges with under 200 subs 3 0 0 1 10 0 In addition, mileage rates are charged as under:
Per station, per quarter-mile route distance or fraction thereof:
Per annum. s. d. 5-party line 4 0 6-party line 3 4 7-party line 2 10 8-party line 2 6 9-party line 2 3 10-party line 2 0 The mileage in respect of rural-line stations is calculated separately for each station, and is computed on the pole-line route measurements between the subscriber's premises and the exchange with which the line is connected.
In cases where the stations are so distributed that the aggregate rental of a rural line is estimated to produce less than the equivalent of a return of £ 5s. per quarter mile or fraction thereof, the service rate payable by each subscriber shall be increased on a flat-rate basis by such an amount as will produce in the aggregate a minimum return of £1 5s. per quarter-mile or fraction thereof of circuit.
Local calls are free.
1068WSweden.
Exchanges with less than 50 subscribers either 50 or 60 kroner per annum up to 900 calls (residence only) according to the size of the local area
The subscribers provide premises and staff. Calls to subscribers on their own exchange are not reckoned in the 900—only those to subscribers in the same area. The subscriber also pays the cost of his own line and apparatus.
New York State.
(1) Individual and party-line service for stations outside the ¾mile circle from the Exchange is furnished at the following monthly rates:
Individual line 4-party line. $ $ Business 3.50 2.75 Residence 2.50 2.00 plus a mileage charge of 50 cents per month per ¼-mile or fraction thereof from the "¾-mile circle" in the case of individual line service, and 17 cents per month per ¼-mile or fraction thereof from the "¾-mile circle" in connection with four-party line service.
Local calls are free.
(2) Rural party lines (10 or more parties per line) are provided outside the "¾-mile circle" from the Exchange at the following monthly rates:
$ Business 2.50 Residence 2.00 No mileage charges; local calls are free.
In all cases (1) and (2) new subscribers have to pay an installation charge of $3.00 for a "business" station and $2.00 for a "residence" station.
(3) "Service station" service is furnished to groups of subscribers in sparsely settled territory where the cost to the company of providing any other class of exchange service would be excessive. Station equipment is furnished, installed and maintained by the subscribers; who also are required to furnish and maintain the necessary pole line and circuit beyond a designated junction point, usually at or near the boundary of the ¾-mile radius. The rate for this service is $4.80 per year for both business 1069W and residence stations, the minimum rate per line being that for five stations.
The local calls are free.
The LAMBasked the Postmaster-General the number of telephones in use per 1,000 of the population in Great Britain and in any British Dominions and foreign countries for which the information is available?
§ Viscount WOLMER,pursuant to his reply [OFFICIAL REPORT, 7th March, 1927; col. 847, Vol. 203] supplied the following statement:
The approximate figures for 31st December, 1925, are as follows:
1070W
Great Britain (including Northern Ireland) 31 United States of America 150
Canada 130 Denmark 95 New Zealand 94 Sweden 72 Australia 68 Norway 66 Switzerland 50 Germany 43 Netherlands 30 Austria 23 Belgium 22 Argentina 19 France 18 Japan 10 No later figures for these countries are available, but the figure for Great Britain on 31st January, 1927, is 33.