Telephones

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29271, 1 August 1960, Page 3

Telephones

Sir.—ln July, 1955, I applied for telephone service. Early this year I was informed at the Post Office that I was third on the list and the telephone would be installed in May this year. A letter received in June from the Chief Postmaster stated that it would not be practicable to provide me with a telephone until later next year and that of the 335 applications already recorded for telephone service in the Mount Pleasant area many were earlier dated or had been allotted a higher priority than mine. I appreciate that business firms have first claim, but who are the VJ.P.’s with their

alleged higher priority claims who force their way in and push the ordinary residential applicant aside so that, after waiting five years, he is no nearer getting a telephone than on the day he first applied? And why does the Chief Postmaster define two as “many.” —Yours, etc., M. G. SIMPSON. July 26, 1960. [The Chief Postmaster (Mr R. Eldock) replies: “The writer lives in a locality where business telephone applications continue to supersede her own. The solution to the problem lies in cabling, but even the superseding applicants cannot be joined up earlier than the planned date because of higher priority work in other areas. In an endeavour to speed up the telephone connexion rate, cable and line staffs under the control of the regional engineer, as well as private cabling and installing contractors, are at present working a six-clay week on an overtime basis.”]