Mr. TODDasked the Postmaster-General the capital value per telephone at which the Post Office acquired from the National Telephone Company the then existing installation; the present capitalisation per telephone; and how this compares with that of other countries?
§ Sir K. WOODI do not think that any useful comparison can be made of costs of equipment provided during the 30 years from 1882 to 1912 with the costs of modern equipment the great part of which was purchased post-war. I have seen the figures £23 and £77 quoted as the capital value per instrument of the Post Office installation in 1912 and to-day respectively. The former figure is apparently arrived at by dividing the purchase price fixed by the arbitrator in the proceedings between the Telephone Company and the Post Office by the number of telephone stations then in service, and it makes no allowance for a large sum fixed for depreciation. The latter figure includes a large item for trunk plant, while the National Telephone figure relates exclusively to local line plant. The National Telephone system consisted almost wholly of magneto and 1095W other relatively cheap forms of plant; the Post Office system includes a great quantity of automatic plant which is even more costly than high-grade modern manual plant. So far as the cost per telephone in other countries is concerned, it is difficult again to make any useful comparison between costs in different countries under different conditions, but in a comparison of the costs between this country and, for instance, America, due regard must be made to the lower telephone density in Great Britain, and particularly to the objection hi this country to the use of overhead plant, and to the extended use of underground cables.