1 SEPTEMBER 1939, Page 6

The present emergency, particularly the evacuation arrangements, has emphasised the

inconveniences arising from the fact that L.C.C. elementary schools, admirably equipped in all other respects, lack one necessity of life—the telephone. The reason can hardly be economy, for the cost is negligible. It may be oversight ; it may be a feeling that telephone calls might become a nuisance. But today, when the school has in a sense become the centre of a little society, with medical officers, dentists, suppliers of milk, Care Com- mittee members, hospitals, all having legitimate business with it, the absence of telephones imposes stupid waste of time and energy on people, many of them voluntary workers, whose time and energy ought to be conserved. The L.C.C. Education Committee should see to this.