Orders of the Day — Telephone Service.

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at on 31 March 1927.

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Photo of Mr Charles Ammon Mr Charles Ammon , Camberwell North

If my hon. and gallant Friend will allow me to go on, I will endeavour to meet him in every way. That testimonial indicates that the Post Office is free from a good deal of the criticisms which have been levelled against it, and I believe it is because trade unionism has flown through its departments for so many years and has brought them into contact with the wider world and with a bigger understanding of the needs of the people. In this respect, however much we may differ in other ways, the Postmaster-General will not deny that the unions have always tried to co-operate with the Department in endeavouring to make the service as efficient as possible. There is another testimonial, from a gentleman whose name carries some weight in the business world. It is from Mr. Gordon Selfridge, the head of a big store in this country. Talking about comparisons between the telephone service in this country and foreign countries, he says: These comparisons are usually ill-informed and dictated largely by the desire to discredit State enterprise. That was the intention of the Mover and Seconder of the Amendment. America is often held up as an example of efficiency under private enterprise, but the criticism by Americans of their own service is just as strong and persistent as criticism here. Mr. Gordon Selfridge has expressed his opinion on the superiority of the British telephones in unambiguous terms: we have had experience of systems both in America and on the Continent, of systems controlled both privately and by the State, and without the slightest hesitation do we award the palm for all round satisfactoriness to the telephones of London. Those who have been to Paris know how poor telephones can be: those who have been to Now York get some idea of the ' boosting ' capacity of the American when they hear him compare the system there with here. The Seconder of the Amendment seemed concerned with the question of boosting more than anything else. He wanted the Postmaster-General to take a leaf out of the book of another country and to go in for boosting.