60. Mr. MONTAGUE BARLOWasked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that a public call office has been in existence at a shop in Lincoln's Inn Gate, Carey Street, for the last three or four years under the National Telephone Company, and has been largely used by the public; and, if so, whether he will explain the refusal of the Post Office to continue this public call office?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELThe agreement in respect of this call office provides for a commission payment which is much higher than that usually paid by the National Telephone Company or by the Post Office to call office keepers; and notice to terminate the agreement has been given for that reason. The intention is not to withdraw public facilities from the locality in question, but to arrange for the continuance on reasonable terms.
Mr. BARLOWWill the Postmaster-General state what circumstances have arisen since the Post Office took over the telephones which did not exist before and which require that the previous arrangement should be discontinued?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELThe National Telephone Company, for reasons known to themselves, occasionally, but very rarely, made payments in excess of the normal scale. The Post Office is not prepared to continue these payments.
§ 62. Mr. BECKasked the Postmaster-General whether he can furnish statistics showing the relative efficiency of the London telephone service during the present year as compared with the year 1911, when the service was partly in the hands of the National Telephone Company as well as of the Post Office, as illustrated by the average speed of answering by operators, and also by the number of engaged and no-reply calls and of cut-offs, and the percentage of effective calls?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELThe following table gives the information required by the hon Member. The percentages were obtained by the special observation of about 50,000 calls in each half-year:—
| January to June. | |||
| 1911. | 1913. | ||
| National Telephone Company. | Post Office. | Post Office combined System. | |
| secs. | secs. | secs. | |
| Average speed of answer | 5.8 | 5.1 | 5.1 |
| Percentage of total calls. | |||
| "Engaged" calls | 18.6 | 18.9 | 17.4 |
| "No-reply" calls | 4.5 | 2.9 | 4.1 |
| "Cut-offs" | .7 | .4 | .6 |
| Effective calls | 65.9 | 68.7 | 70.5 |
§ Mr. COWANCan the Postmaster-General tell the House how it is that the number of complaints from the public who use the telephones have, during the period under review, considerably increased?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELThe number of complaints during the past twelve months has very largely diminished. There were a great number of complaints in the first few months after the telephone service was taken over owing to dislocation of the service in some of the exchanges, but I am happy to say that the complaints have since fallen in a remarkable degree.
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELNo, Sir; these are the results of observation calls. There are a certain number of officers—clerks in the Department—whose sole duty it is to watch, unknown to the operators, the way in which calls are attended to, and they know how the calls are handled. About 50,000 are watched in each half year, and the figures are based on these observations.