§ Mr. Malcolm MacMillanasked the Postmaster-General whether he will consider 1552W introducing cheap rates of installation and reduced charges in cases where the Highland county councils decide to meet the urgent need for district nurses to have direct telephone contact with hospitals and doctors in rural districts?
§ Sir W. WomersleyI have every sympathy with the work of district nurses, and quite appreciate their need of the telephone; but many requests are received for cheap telephone rates from doctors, nurses, nursing associations, charity homes, institutions for the blind, almshouses, fire brigades, police and municipal authorities, and I regret that it would not be possible to justify special treatment only in the case of nurses. A telephone in the house of a nurse is charged at the residence rate, provided that nursing is not carried on at the premises and that the telephone directory entry makes no reference to the subscriber's profession.
Mr. Mitchellasked the Postmaster-General how many trunk lines there are between Birmingham and Edinburgh; and whether he will consider increasing them?
Mr. Mitchellasked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that there was a delay of over one hour and 20 minutes on the trunk telephone lines between Birmingham and Edinburgh on the evening of 19th June; and what steps he will take to prevent this occurring in future?
§ Sir W. WomersleyI am aware that there is some congestion on the trunk route between Birmingham and Edinburgh although normally it is only for a short period that the delay is as much as 6o minutes. There are at present two direct telephone trunk lines between Birmingham and Edinburgh and arrangements were made some time ago for the provision of three additional lines. It is anticipated that the new lines will be working at a comparatively early date.