§ 78. Mr. Russellasked the Postmaster-General if, in the light of the agreement reached in principle at the Trade and Economic Conference at Montreal, he will make a statement regarding the future development of Commonwealth communications.
§ Mr. K. ThompsonThe 7th General Report of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Board has just become available, and copies have been placed in the Libraries. As well as describing the steady development of telecommunication services in the Commonwealth, the Report refers to the continuing success of the transatlantic telephone cable. Telephone traffic across the Atlantic has shown a striking increase since this cable was opened in September, 1956. In two years the traffic between the United Kingdom and Canada has more than trebled, and that between the United Kingdom and the 49W United States has more than doubled. A new cable between the United Kingdom and Canada will be laid in 1961; and I look forward to the progressive development, in co-operation with other Commonwealth countries, of telephone cables linking the countries of the Commonwealth on the lines agreed at the Trade and Economic Conference at Montreal.