§ 137. Mr. Errollasked the Assistant Postmaster-General an estimate of the number of wireless receiving sets in use in Great Britain for which current licences have not been purchased; and how many persons have been convicted in the last six months for not possessing current licences.
§ Mr. BurkeAs my right hon. Friend the Lord President of the Council said on 19th February in reply to Questions by the hon. Member for Blackburn (Mrs. Castle), it is difficult to estimate the extent of evasion of payment of licences. I am, however, satisfied that the number of wireless receiving sets in use in Great Britain for which current licences have not been purchased is very small in relation to the number of sets for which current licences are held, and I draw this conclusion partly from the fact that the number of licences in force has increased from approximately 9,982,000 to 10,672,000 during the first six months of this year. This is an increase of 690,000. During the same six months 940 persons were convicted for not possessing current licences.