§ SIR ERNEST SPENCER (West Bromwich)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Post master General, if he can give a definite date when the Government Telephone Service will be in working order and subscribers able to avail themselves of the new system; and whether the exchanges will be opened simultaneously both in the City and other parts of London.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThe junction lines between the Post Office Central Exchange and the trunk wire system have already been completed, and those connecting the same exchange with most of the chief exchanges with the National Telephone Company will, it is hoped, be ready for use in the course of the present week. It will then be possible to give an exchange service to those subscribers whose lines have already been completed, and to others as their lines are completed day by day.