§ 48. Sir Edward Keelingasked the Assistant Postmaster-General if he is aware of the inconvenience to telephone subscribers in London and its vicinity, especially private subscribers, of a telephone directory occupying four large volumes; and what changes he is making.
§ The Assistant Postmaster-General (Mr. David Gammans)For some time past, the Post Office has been faced with the problem of what to do about the London Telephone Directory. There are now four volumes weighing almost 17 lb. with well over a million subscribers. A fifth volume would soon be required. Quite clearly, something had to be done. Instead of continuing with this cumbersome arrangement, it has been decided as from the 1st January, 1954, to restrict the four volumes to the London Postal Area, that is, that part of London where there is a letter and a number in the postal address. This will, of course, mean that the four volumes will be smaller and more-convenient to handle.
2143 The outer districts of the old London directory area, which stretch from Welwyn in the North to Reigate in the South and from Gravesend in the East to Uxbridge in the West will be divided up into five county areas—Surrey, Kent, Essex, West Middlesex, and Hertfordshire and North Middlesex, each with its own directory. Each subscriber will, of course, have free of charge the directory in which his name appears and any of the other areas for which he may apply. Business subscribers in the county areas will, without application, get the four London postal area directories as well.
This arrangement will not only, in my noble Friend's opinion, be a considerable convenience to subscribers, but will save about £250,000 a year. It does not in the least affect the telephone service given, i.e. subscribers who now dial from one part of the area to another will continue to do so, nor does it change in any way the present charges for calls or the rental charges.
§ Sir E. KeelingCan my hon. Friend say how the weight of the new directory for the London postal district will compare with the present weight of 17 lb. of the Greater London directory; and could he also say how much easier it will be to find a name? For instance, how many Smiths will there be, compared with the 6,000 in the present directory?
§ Mr. GammansThe weight of the four London volumes will be roughly half what it is at present. There are now 41 pages of Smiths, and there will be about half that number in the four new volumes.
§ Mr. W. R. WilliamsWhile appreciating that the size of the directory is a matter which gives concern, can the Minister say, having regard to the affinity of business interests and so on in the whole of this area, what effect it will have on the staffing of the Directory Inquiries service in the London exchanges?
§ Mr. GammansRoughly half the inquiries now made are for numbers and names which are already in the directory, but which people do not find because it is too bulky. It is true that we are re-arranging the Directory Inquiries service, and I do not anticipate any difficulty on that score.