§ 41. Mr. LARDNERasked whether any automatic telephone exchanges have been worked by his Department, if so, will he state where and for how long; whether he is now in a position to state the result of the experiments; and whether it is proposed to increase the number of automatic exchanges?
§ Captain NORTONIn May and July, 1913, experimental exchanges equipped with automatic telephone plant of the Strowger type were opened at Epsom and at the General Post Office, London. These experiments have proved fairly successful; and in order that types of equipment manufactured by other companies may be tried and the practical and financial results of replacing manual by automatic equipment may be more fully investigated, automatic exchanges varying in size from 65 to 6,800 lines are to be installed in the following places:—Accrington, Chepstow, Darlington, Dudley, Grimsby, Leeds, Newport, Paisley, Portsmouth, and Stockport.
§ Mr. LARDNERHas the Postmaster-General considered the advisability of utilising these automatic exchanges for small installations in Ireland?
§ Captain NORTONWe must first see what results we get from the places in which they are about to be tried.