New Clause. — (Commercial Account.)

Part of Orders of the Day — Post Office and Telegraph (Money) Bill – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 26 June 1952.

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Photo of Major Geoffrey Bing Major Geoffrey Bing , Hornchurch 12:00, 26 June 1952

It would be unfortunate if those Members, particularly on the opposite side of the House, who take a great interest in Post Office matters did not say just a word of commendation for what is, after all, a Government Measure. When the House comes to consider whether we should pass this Bill—quite frankly, I think we should—we ought just to consider what is the sum of money involved, whether it is sufficient or not and to what purposes it is to be devoted.

It is true that on the other stages of the Bill various difficulties and accounting problems have faced the Assistant Postmaster-General. In my constituency I have the good fortune of having—at least he is buried in my constituency—the first Postmaster-General. His tomb is in the church at Hornchurch, and therefore I feel that this Bill might well be described as from Hornchurch to Hornsey. One would like to think there was an even rate of progress, but unfortunately there is not.

When one considers this large sum of capital expenditure and casts it up against what is to be done, one is tempted at first sight to think that perhaps there is no point whatever in passing this Bill. It is said that we need a lot of capital expenditure for the Post Office. One looks round in one's own constituency and tries to see what is being done there. I am sorry the hon. and gallant Member for Romford (Lieut.-Colonel Lockwood) is not here, because we share the one telephone exchange in our two constituencies and the same sort of problems face both of us.

Thanks to the public interest roused in Post Office questions by the previous debate there was an inquiry carried out by the "Romford Times" into the conditions in Hornchurch. They said, quite properly, that there is a Bill to provide a huge sum of money for the Post Office, and they went to the Post Office officials and said, "What will it do for Hornchurch and Romford?"

The answer, I am sorry to say, which was given by the Post Office official was, "Nothing." Far from there being anything for Hornchurch and Romford, the situation now is far worse than before the Bill was introduced. The Post Office official, or whoever it was—the spokesman—said that by capital expenditure restrictions brought about by the country's present economic plight, it really was not possible to have much development. He went on to say: We are not allowed to spend the money we would like to on new exchanges, and new automatic equipment or new cables. Anyway, you've got to have all or nothing. You can't mate old equipment with new. Whereupon the reporter referred the official to a statement made in the days when another Government were planning our capital expenditure for the Post Office, and pointed out that under that plan there was very shortly to be a new exchange. He inquired what was the effect of this further £52 million. The reply was: I can find no information in the files"——