Captain D'ARCY HALLasked the Postmaster-General if, in view of the 301W isolation of certain rural areas in Wales, he will consider the provision of telephone facilities without calling for guarantees?
§ Sir W. MITCHELL-THOMSONIt is the practice of the Post Office to instal telephone call offices without guarantee when the receipts are likely to meet the cost of maintaining and operating the service, and a large number of such offices have been opened in rural areas during the past few years. If, however, the facilities were provided without regard to financial results, heavy losses would inevitably be involved, and I regret that it is not practicable, therefore, to dispense with some guarantee where a call office is likely to be unremunerative.