§ 54. Major CHURCHasked the Postmaster-General if orders are still being placed by his Department for the supply of the old-type telephone instrument; what orders he has placed for the new-type instrument; how the cost of the new type compares with that of the old; and if he will give an estimate of the relative costs of maintenance in service of the old and the new type?
§ Mr. ATTLEEThere is no present necessity for placing orders for the pedestal type of instrument. Large orders for the new type have been and are being placed, but I do not think it right to make public the precise magnitude of the contracts. As I informed the hon. and gallant Member in reply to his question on the 20th instant, the new type is more expensive in initial cost, but I am unable to disclose contract prices, which must necessarily be regarded as confidential. It is estimated that the, maintenance costs of the new hand-microphone will be about 20 per cent. higher than those of the pedestal instrument.