§ 82. Sir FREDERICK CAWLEYasked the Postmaster-General whether the chief operators at sub-telephone exchanges when transferred from the larger exchanges were assured that they would not lose their seniority for obtaining super- visorships in the large offices; whether promotion is now permanently barred to those operators, although they were given supervising duties in the smaller offices on account of special efficiency; whether at sub-exchanges the maximum for chief 421 operators has been reduced; and whether the staff at sub-post offices are now only being paid time and a-half for Sunday duty and time and a-quarter for ordinary overtime, as against double time and time and a-half paid by the National Telephone Company?
§ The POSTMASTER-GENERAL (Mr. Herbert Samuel)I am not aware that the National Telephone Company gave any definite assurance to operators transferred from large to small exchanges. On transfer to the Post Office these operators were included in the class of Post Office telephonists doing similar work, and they enjoy the same prospects of advancement. The company had no fixed maximum for chief operators at small exchanges, but the pay of chief operators in the majority of cases falls within the Post Office scale. The Post Office rates for Sunday duty and overtime are as stated. These rates are those recommended by the Parliamentary Committee.
§ 83. Mr. BUTCHERasked the Postmaster-General whether his attention has been called to the fact that the telephone wires and poles in and around the City of York were damaged by a snow storm on the 11th January, and that disorganisation of the telephone service in the city has now prevailed for over a week, causing loss and inconvenience to householders, traders, and others; whether any steps have yet been taken to make good the damage, and at what date is it expected that the usual service will be resumed; whether he is aware that on former occasions, when more severe snow storms and gales occurred, the damage was made good more rapidly than on the present occasion; and whether he will explain the causes of the present delay in repairing the damage?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELThe hon. Member is under a misapprehension in supposing that more severe damage has occurred at York and the surrounding district during recent years than was done by the recent storm, having regard to the extent of the area affected and the large proportion of telephone and telegraph wires which were broken down. The ordinary telephone maintenance staff in York was largely increased by drafts from other districts, and the work of repair is being pressed on with the utmost expedition. It is expected that the whole of the telephone subscribers' circuits in York will be in working order by the end of this week.
§ 84. Mr. PIRIEasked the Postmaster-General the total mileage of underground cables in England, and the cost incurred in laying them, indicating the respective figures in each case for the main line from Penzance to Gretna riâ London, and of all the other lines in England apart from this main line; and if he will also give the same figures for the lines laid down in Scotland?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELThe total length of the main underground routes is 1,197 miles in England, and 133 miles in Scotland. The total expenditure under the Post Office Votes and the Telephone capital account has been about £2,100,000. The expenditure on the routes in the two countries has been approximately proportionate to the mileage, but such a comparison would be misleading in a discussion of the relative benefits to Scotland and England. A large proportion of the underground wires between London and the border are used for telegrams to and from Scotland. Besides the circuits serving Glasgow and Edinburgh in the main underground route from London, there are four circuits containing eight wires serving Aberdeen and Dundee. It would be a matter of some difficulty to give in exact detail the other figures suggested by the hon. Member, though I should be happy to do so if any useful purpose could be served.
§ Mr. PIRIEWhat I want are the figures for England divided into two, the total miles of the main line from Penzance to Gretna, via London, and the total mileage of subsidiary lines apart from that?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELIt is rather difficult to disentangle the figures, but I will obtain them for the hon. Member.