MR. LLOYD MORGAN (Carmarthen, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he is aware that the Post Office telephone authorities four or five months ago laid telephone wires through the whole or a part of the Paddington district, but have not yet connected the houses, with the wires, and that the residents in the district have applied to have their houses connected, and have complained of the inconvenience caused by the delay; whether he will state the reasons for the delay and the date when it is proposed to complete the telephonic system in the district referred to.
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN,) Worcestershire, E.A Post Office Telephone Exchange is being constructed in Bird Street, Oxford Street, to serve a district bounded on the East by Regent Street, and extending between Piccadilly and Regent's Park. It will also include a considerable part of Paddington and Bayswater. Owing to difficulties in the acquisition of the premises, it has not yet been possible to commence the necessary structural alterations and additions, but it is hoped to do so in a few weeks. These alterations, and the installation of the Exchange plant, will necessarily occupy some months, and it will not be possible to open the Exchange before the end of the present year. In the meantime the work of laying and jointing the cables in the underground pipes which have recently been laid is proceeding, in order that the connection of subscribers' houses may be completed very rapidly, as soon as the Exchange is ready to be opened.