§ Mr. Skeetasked the Postmaster-General what is the area of land covered by the Dollis Hill Research Station, together with appurtenances and undeveloped land; what has been the expenditure incurred in the past five years on buildings, plant and equipment; what is the total of salaries paid to technicians and staff per annum; and what is the nature of research currently being conducted at the station.
§ Mr. BevinsThe area of the site at Dollis Hill is 10 acres. During the past five years expenditure on buildings, apart from routine maintenance, was £140,000, and on plant and equipment £1,500,000. The total salaries amount to about £1,500,000 per annum. The work carried out at the Research Station is largely applied research concerned with developing new and improving existing techniques connected with the postal and telecommunication services. The range of activities is very wide, and includes methods of transmitting speech, television, data and telegraph signals over land line, submarine cable, radio, radio-relay and communication-satellite systems electronic switching systems; electromechanical methods of handling and sorting letters, packets and parcels.