§ Mr. D. SOMERVILLEasked the Post master-General at what date he expects that all exchanges in the London area will be converted to the dial system; what was the estimated aggregate cost and duration of the original conversion scheme; and what will be the additional cost as a result of its acceleration?
§ Mr. LEES-SMITHNormally the conversion of a manual to an automatic exchange does not take place until its capacity is exhausted or until the economic life of the plant has expired. The date of complete conversion of the London area to automatic working depends therefore to some extent on the rate of growth of the demand for telephones. About 130 exchanges are expected to be working on an automatic basis by 1940 when about 20 exchanges would remain for conversion. The programme is necessarily tentative and while progress up to the present has been rather more rapid than was anticipated there has been no departure from the principles on which it is regulated. Any deliberate acceleration beyond the needs of the service would involve heavy wastage of capital. On the basis of present prices the expenditure on buildings and equipment for automatic exchanges up to 1940 will be of the order of £25,000,000, of which (for the reasons stated) a large part represents ordinary replacement and development liabilities which would be necessary under manual conditions.
§ Mr. ROSSasked the Postmaster-General how much of the sum of £1,500,000 to be expended this year and next on extensions of the telephone programme is to be allotted to telephone extensions in Northern Ireland?
§ Mr. LEES-SMITHSchemes are in hand for improving telephonic communication between Belfast and Glasgow and the Northern Ireland portion of the work will begin next year. The total cost is estimated at £233,600 of which the Northern Ireland portion amounts to about £40,000, divided nearly evenly between duct work and cabling.