HL Deb 21 May 1958 vol 209 cc539-42

6.24 p.m.

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, with the leave of the House, I should like to make a statement similar to that made by my right honourable friend the Postmaster-General in another place. As your Lordships are aware, Post Office policy is to encourage greater use of existing telephones by making calls cheap, quick and easy. On January 1, 1958, the area covered by the 3d. local call was greatly enlarged, and some trunk charges were reduced. I now announce two further steps which will make many telephone calls cheaper.

First, all users of telephones will have the cheap rate period extended. At not taken the course which I have, I should have made things extremely difficult, if not impossible, for anybody who succeeded me in this office.

On Question, Whether the said Motion shall be agreed to?

Their Lordships divided: Contents, 53; Not-Contents, 26.

CONTENTS
Lansdowne, M. Aberdare, L. Hawke, L.
Salisbury, M. Amulree, L. [Teller.] McCorquodale of Newton, L.
Auckland, L. Mancroft, L.
Albemarle, E. Balfour of Inchrye, L. Merrivale, L.
Bathurst, E. Banbury of Southam, L. Merthyr, L.
Bessborough, E. Broughshane, L. Milverton, L.
Fortescue, E. Chesham, L. Newall, L.
Gosford, E. Clilheroe, L. Rank, L.
Haddington, E. Colyton, L. Rathcavan, L.
Home, E. Conesford L. Rea. L.
Onslow, E. Croft, L. St. Oswald, L.
Selkirk, E. Denham, L. Sandford, L.
Swinton, E. Dynevor, L. Strang, L.
Winterton, E. Ebury, L. Strathclyde, L.
Woolton, E. Evans, L. Teviot, L.
Glyn, L. Teynham, L.
De L'Isle, V. Grantchester, L. [Teller.] Thurlow, L.
Goschen, V. Hampton, L. Tweedsmuir, L.
Ridley, V.
NOT-CONTENTS
Attlee, E. Cottesloe, L. Milner of Leeds, L.
Cranbrook, E. Darwen, L. Morrison, L.
Lucan, E. [Teller.] Digby, L. Nathan, L.
Douglas of Barloch, L. Ogmore, L.
Addison, V. Faringdon, L. Pakenham, L.
Alexander of Hillsborough, V. Henderson, L. Pethick-Lawrence, L.
Mersey, V. Latham, L. Shepherd, L. [Teller.]
Stansgate, V. Lawson, L. Silkin, L.
Macpherson of Drumochter, L. Williams. L.
Brabazon of Tara, L.

present it is from 6 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. As from the 1st July it will be from 6 p.m. every weekday to 6 o'clock the following morning. On Sundays it will be from 2 p.m. until 6 o'clock on Monday morning. This is the first time the cheap night rate has been given on Sunday afternoons. Secondly, as already announced, some subscribers—at first those in Bristol—will soon be able to dial their own trunk calls. For these subscribers, and in the first instance for these subscribers only, the basis of charging for all calls will be radically changed. What I have to announce now is that they will be able to make telephone calls to anywhere in this country for 2d. The amount of time 2d. will buy will vary with the distance. Naturally, for the really long-distance call the amount of time for 2d. will be small—in fact 12 seconds.

On trunk calls, the new charges will have two advantages. Here are examples of those advantages for a call of over 125 miles. The first advantage is that the charge itself will be reduced. At present, a three-minute call costs 3s. 6d. In future it will cost only 2s. 6d., which is a reduction of nearly 30 per cent. The second advantage is that the existing minimum of 3s. 6d. for three minutes will be abolished, and subscribers will pay only for the time they use, in multiples of 2d. The new charges for a call over 125 miles will be: For 12 seconds, 2d.; for one minute, 10d.; for two minutes, Is. 8d.; and for three minutes, 2s. 6d. All those calls, my Lords, at present cost a minimum of 3s. 6d., whether they last one, two or three minutes.

With regard to local calls in the areas with Subscriber Trunk Dialling, these will be timed, because only by timing can the charge be reduced. Instead of 3d. untimed, they will be 2d. for three minutes, in the ordinary period, and 2d. for six minutes, in the cheap rate period. These new charges will start at Bristol on December 1, 1958. They cannot be applied elsewhere until equipment is installed to enable subscribers to tha[...] trunk calls. This will be done as quickly as possible, but, of course, it will take a long time to cover the whole country. A new coin box to allow trunk calls to be dialled from kiosks will he introduced later. Telephone time that costs 2d. from an ordinary telephone will cost 3d. from a coin box.

Full details are given in a White Paper which is mow available in the Printed Paper Office. En addition, your Lordships will be able to see the new equipment, and how it works, from 12 noon to-morrow, in the Upper Waiting Hall, which is on the Committee Floor in another place.

VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGH

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for giving us the advantage of hearing the statement from him. Of course we welcome it wholeheartedly, and with a good deal of thanks for the change which is to take place. The only thing I am anxious about is how long it is going to take to give everybody the same justice as it is proposed to give to people in the Bristol area. Why is it that the London area is so far behind the town of Bristol, which I know so well, in getting the advantages that the General Post Office authorities want to give?

LORD REA

My Lords, may I support the noble Viscount in thanking the noble Lord for his statement. One effect of it, of course, will be that our Scottish friends will learn to speak much more quickly, which might be an advantage.

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, I think it is estimated that 70 per cent. or 75 per cent. of telephones will be on this system by 1970. So far as the reason for its start in Bristol is concerned, a start had to be made somewhere, and I believe that, for technical reasons, Bristol was the most suitable place for the new system to be introduced.

LORD FARINGDON

My Lords, may I ask the noble Lord whether the new coin boxes will provide for an automatic falling in of the coins when the caller is connected with the number, or will the old-fashioned business of pressing buttons A and B continue?

LORD CHESHAM

No, my Lords, it will not continue. The new box is so designed that unless the number you have dialled obtains an answer you cannot even put the coins in.

VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGH

My Lords, who are these new charges being made for, the quick or the dead?

LORD CHESHAM

As the noble Lord, Lord Rea, said, naturally the quick.