§ Captain ERSKINE-BOLSTasked the Postmaster-General the average amount of time which should be taken in obtaining a toll call; and whether there has been in recent years any alteration in the rapidity with which these calls were originally made?
§ Sir K. WOODThe average time taken to obtain a toll call from London is now 68 seconds, including the time taken for the wanted subscriber to answer his telephone, which on the average amounts to 20 seconds. Before the establishment of the toll exchange in 1921. these calls were handled in the Trunk Exchange with an average "delay" of 15 to 20 minutes. Trunk calls from London are now on the average effected within 114 seconds; as recently as 1931 they took from 10 to 15 minutes. I have assumed that my hon. and gallant Friend's question relates to calls from London, but the corresponding figures for the provinces are not materially different.