§ MR. H. H. MARKS (Kent Thanet)To ask the Postmaster-General whether he can take measures to give effect to the recommendation of the Departmental Committee of the Board of Agriculture on the Fruit Industry, that the telephone service should be further extended in country distrcts.
§ (Answered by Mr Sydney Buxton.): I have been in communication with the Board of Agriculture as to the best means of extending the telephone system in the fruit-growing districts of the country; and the circumstances of particular districts, to which the Board has drawn my attention, are being investigated. During the last two years the Post Office has opened 127 exchanges in country districts, and a considerable number of others are being constructed. I hope that the arrangement lately announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, under which the Post Office will assume two-thirds of the liability under guarantees for the extension of the telephone trunk wire system, will facilitate such extensions.