§ Mr. Collinsasked the Assistant Postmaster-General how many applicants at present residing in the Clissold telephone area are on the waiting list; to give separate figures for private and business applicants; the present average waiting period for private applicants; and the approximate date when the Clissold Telephone Exchange will be converted from manual to automatic working.
§ Mr. GammansThere are 200 business applications and 449 residential applications on hand; 226 of these are in course of being met. I regret that the average waiting time cannot be given since this depends upon the availability of lines which varies from one locality to another. During the past 12 months, 564 telephones have been connected, and we plan a considerable increase in the coming year.
Good progress is being made with the installation of the new automatic exchange, and we hope to bring it into use in the autumn.