§ 39. Mr. Francis Noel-Bakerasked the Lord President of the Council when he expects to be able to install an automatic telephone exchange for the Palace of Westminster, following the report of the Postmaster-General.
§ The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Richard Crossman)It is hoped that the report from my right hon. Friend the Postmaster-General will be available shortly. At this stage there is nothing I can add to the Answer I gave my lion. Friend on 24th July.
§ Mr. Noel-BakerDoes my right hon. Friend not agree that it is false economy not to modernise this place? The present switchboard is not only grossly unfair to the operators using it, but it is grossly inefficient and a great burden on Members of Parliament, preventing them from doing their job properly.
§ Mr. CrossmanI think everybody here realises that we should modernise the 31 switchboard. We ought to modernise it after we have received the report from the Postmaster-General.