§ 5. Mr. G. Thomasasked the Assistant Postmaster-General when he expects to be able to reply to the representations made on 22nd May last by the hon. Member for Cardiff, West, concerning the petition by residents at the Disabled Centre, Haig Place, Cardiff, to have a telephone kiosk installed in that area.
§ Mr. GammansI wrote to the hon. Member on 12th June.
§ Mr. ThomasIs the hon. Gentleman aware that he sent me a quite unsatisfactory reply, and is he further aware that this Disabled Centre is situated on a hill much more than the 600 yards he mentioned in his letter from the nearest telephone? Will the hon. Gentleman look at this matter again, because there is a genuine grievance in this case?
§ Mr. GammansI admit that the reply was unsatisfactory in a sense. I should very much like to have told the hon. Gentleman that I could provide him with the facilities for which he asks, but, as I told him in my reply, I shall certainly provide those facilities at the earliest possible moment.
§ Mr. ThomasWhen will that be?
§ 7. Mr. Speirasked the Assistant Postmaster-General whether he is now in a position to supply a list of the places in the Hexham Division of Northumberland, in which it is proposed to erect public telephone kiosks by 31st March, 1953, and, in particular, whether Settlingstones will be included in that list.
§ Mr. GammansI regret not. The telephone manager is in correspondence with the county branch of the Rural District Councils' Association about the list for the Hexham area and I will write again to my hon. Friend as soon as I have any definite information.
§ Mr. SpeirDoes my hon. Friend realise that he referred to this list in a letter to me last March; and, as he is still unable to give the details, does not this continual inability to provide the details reflect somewhat on the competence of his Department?
§ Mr. GammansWell, I trust not. The position is that we ask the Rural District Council's Association to advise us where these kiosks should go, and in this particular case no agreement has finally been reached with the Association. I can assure my hon. Friend that we shall certainly get on with this as quickly as we can get agreement on this point.