§ 30. Mr. Moyleasked the Postmaster-General what consultations he is proposing to have with outside bodies before reaching his decision on the form of the London Telephone Directories.
§ Mr. StonehouseAs there had been so much public interest in this subject I decided to meet the G.L.C. and Borough Councils and a wide range of organisations and a representative group of telephone subscribers to hear their views at first hand. The meeting starts at 4 p.m. today.
§ Mr. MoyleDoes not my right hon. Friend agree that many people in London will probably require all 35 directories? Will he therefore consider a proposal for assimilating them into an easily handle-able form?
§ Mr. StonehouseThat is exactly what I am considering. I have an open mind on this; subject until I have heard all the views which may be expressed to me. If anybody still wants to have all the directories or a new A-Z directory, which will be many inches high, we will provide it.
§ Mr. BryanIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that we shall be glad to hear it if he really has an open mind, because, although we had great explanations about it, we were still very unhappy about it, especially with what was said about the American experience which had not been gone into sufficiently?
§ Mr. StonehouseAddresses in America are far shorter than are addresses in Britain and so ours cannot be condensed to the same extent, but I want to do what is best in the interests of the subscribers as well as the G.P.O.