§ 29. Sir J. Henderson-Stewartasked the Postmaster-General if he will make a statement on the proposed changes in the telephone directory as it affects the County of Fife.
§ Mr. BevinsBoth the Edinburgh and Dundee directories have hitherto included separate sections for subscribers in Fife. In future, subscribers in the southern half of Fife will be shown in the Edinburgh directory and those in the northern half in the Dundee directory. In both directories all subscribers will be shown in a single alphabetical list.
Many authorities and organisations were approached and the changes were generally welcomed as making the directories more useful and convenient. Some criticisms, however, have been made, and I am now also arranging for the publication of a separate directory for subscribers in Fife and Kinross.
§ Sir J. Henderson-StewartI thank my right hon. Friend for the latter concession, concerning a separate telephone book for Fife and Kinross, but may I ask whether he is aware that his present 1434 plan of having separate Dundee and Edinburgh books, thus dividing Fife into two, will be very unpopular? Will he reconsider the question when the new telephone books are printed?
§ Mr. BevinsI agree with my hon. Friend that this change is unpopular in Fife, but of the twenty bodies which the Post Office consulted only two raised objections. The difficulty in which I find myself is that if we were to halt these new arrangements at this stage it would mean that Dundee and Edinburgh would have to work on the basis of the old directories for at least another six or eight months. I will certainly undertake to have regard to my hon. Friend's representations when this matter arises again, in the early part of 1962.