The Select Committee on Telephone Charges reported last week in
favour of the much higher scale of charges proposed by the Post Office. In London, for example, the installation rent of £5 is to be raised to £8 10s., and each local 'call will oust Ie. instead of Id. Moreover, the London area is reduced to a circle with a radius of ten miles from Oxford Circus ; a con- siderable section of the Port of London, especially the Tilbury docks, will thus be excluded. As the telephone service shows a heavy loss, it is difficult to resist the official demand, for higher charges, which, according to the Committee, will make next year's revenue balance the expenditure. On the other hand, if the telephone is made a luxury, people of moderate means will give it up and the service will cease to expand as it should do. ' The proposed increase in the rates is not wholly attributable to the war. It is unquestionably due in part to the relative inefficiency of State administration. Every old subscriber looks back with regret to the days of the National Telephone Company which gave a cheap and good service.
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