§ 56. Mr. Charles A. Howellasked the Postmaster-General to what extent he has achieved his declared objective in eliminating party lines for telephone subscribers in the London Region, and in regions outside London.
§ Mr. BevinsMy objective is to let everyone have a choice of shared or separate telephone service, but until we have enough lines we must continue to ask residential subscribers to accept a liability to share, in order to help others.
Shared service reached a peak of 1,187,000 connections in 1957; since then the number has been reduced by 44,400 in the London Region and 35,500 in regions outside London.