§ 19. Mr. Simmonsasked the Assistant Postmaster-General if he is aware that a telephone is a tool of the trade for journalists on daily newspapers who represent outlying districts; and if he will arrange for them to be given a high priority for installation.
§ Mr. GammansWe are anxious that journalists should be provided with telephones, and we are giving them a measure of priority.
§ Mr. SimmonsDoes not the hon. Gentleman recall a case which I brought to his notice quite recently in which a journalist had been told that he would have to wait until August? Does the hon. Gentleman not know that buildings are being put up in which telephones are being installed before business people go in? Does he not know that a "bookie," or commission agent as no doubt he would politely call him, has sometimes a dozen telephones on his desk, and that a journalist, to whom a telephone is essential, has his job jeopardised by not having a telephone?
§ Mr. GammansAs a result of the representations made by the hon. Member in this case, I have gone into the whole matter of priorities. That is why I gave him the reply which I have just given.
Mr. I. O. ThomasDoes the hon. Gentleman mean by that reply that the odds are 12 to one on the bookie?
§ Mr. J. RodgersDoes the definition of a journalist include one who works on a weekly or a Sunday newspaper as well as one who works on a daily paper?
§ Mr. GammansYes, Sir. We are including those as well as free-lance journalists.