§ 92. Colonel ASHLEYasked the Post-master-General whether he is aware that demobilised soldiers who have started in business are heavily handicapped by lack of telephone facilities; and whether, in order to save time, he will, in the interests of these men, grant permission for private electricians to fit, at subscribers' own cost, temporary extensions in blocks of offices where telephone communication already exists?
§ The ASSISTANT POSTMASTER -GENERAL (Mr. Pike Pease)Arrangements can be made by the Post Office to allow two or more subscribers to use the same telephone line by means of extensions or otherwise, so that the employment of private contractors to fit extension telephones is unnecessary. The real difficulty in providing service for new subscribers in certain localities is not, however, due to the want of such extensions, but of spare underground wires to exchanges and of spare switchboard positions in the exchanges, as the result of the enforced cessation of construction work during the War. A large amount of work is in hand to overcome both difficulties, and as many as 27,472 new exchange lines have been provided since the Armistice.
§ Colonel ASHLEYMay I take it that the suggestion contained in the question is not practicable unless someone in the building agrees to allow the new tenant to use his telephone?