§ 28. Mr. Emeryasked the Postmaster-General what decrease there has been on the waiting list for telephones in Reading during the last six months; and what action he is taking to speed up the delivery of telephones in this area.
§ Miss PikeThe numbers of applications on the waiting list and in course of being met, taken together, are virtually the same as six months ago. There are now 206 applicants on the waiting list and I hope that all these will be given service during the present financial year. Seven hundred and seventy-two telephones have been installed during the past six months.
§ Mr. EmeryWhile thanking my hon. Friend for that reply, may I ask whether she realises that the figures given by her right hon. Friend about the Reading area make this one of the half-dozen worst areas in the country? It is little use encouraging people, by lower charges, to use the telephone if they have no telephone installed.
§ Miss PikeAll the waiting applicants are held up by a shortage of cable. I remind my hon. Friend that there are 13,718 working lines in the Reading area and that those waiting represent a very small proportion of the lines at present in use.