§ 18. Mr. Emrys Hughesasked the Postmaster-General what proposals he has for increasing the use of the telephone service.
§ Mr. MarplesSubject to the service paying its way and to the availability of capital, our policy is to increase the use of the telephone service. I hope that more calls will be made when the range of the 3d. call is extended next January. The weather service is being extended, the cricket test score service is very popular, and new submarine cables will foster the use of the international service, as has the highly successful Transatlantic telephone cable.
§ Mr. HughesWill the Minister tell us what steps he has taken to restore confidence in telephone users whose telephones are tapped? Could he tell us what he does to protect telephone users from tapping by people? Has he consulted anybody at all, and does not he think he could make some money for his Department if he had the initiative 403 to put on the market an untappable telephone?
§ Mr. MarplesI am sure that the hon. Member would like the introduction of an untappable telephone. There is no charge for the service of tapping.
§ Mr. P. WilliamsCan my right hon. Friend make any comparison between the charges imposed by the General Post Office on the one side and Hull on the other?
§ Mr. MarplesI cannot do that, because the two systems are not comparable. Hull is a very dense area and has no rural telephones, which we have to subsidise.
§ Mr. S. SilvermanReverting to the subject of tapped telephones, will the right hon. Gentleman, if he cannot accept my hon. Friend's very reasonable suggestion, at any rate mitigate the evil by making sure that in future people whose telephones are tapped are charged only as for a shared telephone?