§ Sir R. Clarryasked the Postmaster-General what is the general arrangement and procedure governing priority telephone calls; and whether the serious losses in time and war effort incurred by certain Government contractors, who are unable to obtain priority and often have to contend with four or five hours' delay in essential trunk calls to Government Departments over widespread areas of the country, could be partly met by allocating them some lower degree of priority to ensure a reasonable service for their work?
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§ Mr. W. S. MorrisonPriority in the telephone service is granted to certain individuals in Government Departments, in the Civil Defence Services and in firms engaged on important war work, as well as to Members of Parliament. It is intended for use only on calls of real urgency and importance, and it must be asked for specifically when the call is originated. Government contractors are placed on the telephone priority list when the Departments concerned consider this essential in the interests of the national war effort. Experience has shown that a wide extension of the priority list tends to defeat the very object of the facility and I am satisfied that the introduction of another degree of priority would have the same result. If my hon. Friend has any particular case in mind in which the refusal of priority facilities to a firm seems to be clearly unjustified, I should be glad to look into the matter.