§ 85. Mr. J. P. FARRELLasked the Post-master-General whether he hopes to instal the trunk telephone system in Longford before 1st October; whether, since last questioned on the subject, he has taken any steps to have this matter of telephonic communication between Carrick-on-Shan-non, Longford, Mullingar, and Dublin accelerated; and, if not, will he now direct that the matter be completed in accordance with many promises made by him and his predecessors on the subject?
§ The POSTMASTER-GENERAL (Mr. Herbert Samuel)I am glad to find that the support forthcoming at Longford is sufficient to warrant the extension of the trunk system to that town. The work will be carried out as quickly as possible, but I fear that it cannot be completed by the 1st October. The circumstances are not so favourable as regards Carrick-on-Shannon, where only eight, subscribers can be obtained, and I regret that the extension to that place cannot be proceeded with at present. Two trunk lines between Dublin and Mullingar are in course of erection
§ 86. Mr. LARDNERasked the Post-master-General when he expects to be able to put in hand the construction works necessary for the extension of the telephone trunk lines from Monaghan to Clones?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELThe work will be put in hand at the earliest possible moment, but in view of the amount of urgent telephone work which is now proceeding in Ireland I fear I cannot say definitely when it is likely to be completed.
§ Mr. LARDNERHave not negotiations for the telephone been going on for the last three years?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELThe work is about to be done now. The matter is settled. It is only a question of when the engineering staff can have an opportunity of doing the work.
§ Mr. LARDNERCan the right hon. Gentleman say when it will be completed?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELIt is impossible to give a definite date when it will be completed, but it will be very soon; there will be no very long delay.
§ 89. Mr. GOLDMANasked why the instructions regarding proper use of telephone, which are admittedly of considerable assistance and tend to make the operating work uniform, have been eliminated from the current half-yearly issue of the Telephone Directory?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELThe instructions were omitted from the directory because it was thought that very few subscribers read them, and that a much more effective way of bringing them under notice would be to issue them in the form of leaflets or pamphlets. A leaflet dealing with one part of the matter is on the point of being distributed, and others will be issued to subscribers from time to time.
§ Mr. GOLDMANIf pamphlets are to be sent out, when are they likely to be forth-coming?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELAs I have stated in my reply, one is on the point of being distributed.
§ 90. Mr. GOLDMANasked the Post-master-General whether he is aware that the names and numbers of numerous subscribers to the telephone who are not in arrear and whose agreements are still in force have been omitted from the current half-yearly Directory; and what steps he proposes to rectify this and so save the inconvenience to private subscribers and likely damage to commercial houses?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELThere have been very few cases in which the name 1349 and number of a subscriber, who joined the telephone system before the return of the final proofs of the Directory to the printers, have been omitted from that publication. In spite of the greatest care it is practically impossible to avoid a few errors of the kind. During the last two years the number of omissions among the entries, numbering from 100,000 to 130,000, in the London Telephone Directory has never reached twenty, and in the July issue was only thirteen. Subscribers whose names have unfortunately been omitted are in the same position as those subscribers who join immediately after the Directory has gone to press until the next Directory is issued. There are specially selected officers in the exchanges who are always ready to give information as to the numbers of new subscribers whose names do not appear in the Directory. The cases referred to by the hon. Member will be dealt with in this way.
§ Mr. GOLDMANDoes the right hon. Gentleman propose to rectify the mistakes, seeing that, great inconvenience is caused by them?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELIt would be impossible to rectify the mistakes after the Directory has been issued. As there are only thirteen cases out of 130,000 entries, it is hardly worth while issuing a now Directory.
§ Mr. KINGIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that many people wish to keep their names out of the Directory in order to have less trouble?