§ 40. Captain W. Elliotasked the Postmaster-General on what date he intends to begin work to convert the Wallington, Surrey, telephone exchange from manual to fully-automatic working.
§ Mr. MawbyPresent plans are to start the new Wallington automatic exchange building during 1965, and have the equipment in operation by 1968, but we will improve on this if we can.
§ Captain ElliotDoes my hon. Friend appreciate that that is not a very satisfactory Answer? Is he aware that this exchange serves a very populous area? Would he undertake to look at this project again with a view to advancing the date if he possibly can?
§ Mr. MawbyIn this case there are some difficulties, because till space is available for a new building we cannot carry on with it, and the space can be provided only after another building has been built to replace the postmen's district office. So we are in a little difficulty here, but we are not dragging our feet. Certainly with regard to equipment at the present moment it is rather old, but we have made special maintenance arrangements, and I am pleased to say from our reports that the average time to answer has gone down quite considerably over the recent past as a result of the special attention we have given to this point.