§ 112. Sir Knox Cunninghamasked the Postmaster-General whether he will state the reasons for the failure to convert the telephone system at Crumlin in County Antrim to subscriber trunk dialling by the date promised, namely the end of 1967; and what is the new date when such a service will be available to telephone subscribers in that area.
§ Mr. Edward ShortThe 1967 date was dependent on the provision of a new cable to the exchange. The contractors have had labour problems and the cable scheme will not now be completed until the end of 1968. But I had already planned to replace the Crumlin exchange by a larger one, with more modern type of equipment, early in 1970. Although I had originally intended to provide subscriber trunk dialling at the old exchange when the new cable was laid, it would now be wasteful of scarce resources of equipment and manpower to do so for a relatively short period. I shall provide subscriber trunk dialling when the new exchange opens in 1970.