§ Mr. TOUCHEasked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that the Post Office Exchange at New Oxted, with fifty-one subscribers, is closed from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sundays; and that an extra charge of 3d. is made for trunk calls after 8 p.m., with a further fee of 3d. on calls put through after 10 p.m., whereas the National Telephone Company's Exchange at Harlow, with only thirty-three subscribers, is available all day on Sundays and no extra charge is made for late calls; and, in view of the announcement that the use of Post Office trunk lines is granted to the subscribers to Post Office Exchanges on terms as favourable as those to subscribers to exchanges of the National Telephone Company, will he take steps to rectify the present inequality in this and other cases, and will he give instructions for Post Office charges in excess of National Telephone Company's charges to be refunded or not enforced in future?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELThe Post Office telephone exchange at New Oxted is an instance of the exchanges referred to in my answer to a recent question by the hon. Member as having been opened by the Post Office in districts which had not been served by the National Telephone Company. The amount of support given at first was not sufficient to justify the extra cost of attendance on Sundays, or a continuous service at night without the payment of special fees for calls. In view of the increase in the number of subscribers I am now trying to arrange for a continuous service on Sundays and at nights without any special charge to subscribers. I cannot, however, in view of the expense incurred, undertake to refund the charges previously made to subscribers.