Captain A. EVANSasked the Postmaster-General if he is aware that it is the practice of his Department to write tactless and unnecessarily curt communications to telephone subscribers, demanding the immediate payment of an overdue account without first finding out over the telephone if the subscriber is abroad; and whether he will give instructions for the more courteous treatment of subscribers?
§ Viscount WOLMERA second and final application is made in cases where no reply is received after a reasonable period to the request for payment. Over three-quarters of a million accounts are dealt with each quarter, and it is impracticable to inquire as to the cause of non-payment in individual cases. Cases where subscribers notify their absence abroad receive special consideration. It was the practice at one time to communicate by telephone with subscribers2630W whose accounts were overdue but complaints that such communications reached the ears of employés and others led to this procedure being abandoned. The phrasing of the final notice has been reviewed from time to time but experience shows that, unless a reminder intended to be final, carries unmistakeably that meaning upon it, it fails to achieve its purpose.