20 SEPTEMBER 1935, Page 6

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK Fr HE Post Office has been so

abundantly congratulated on the, success of its shilling telephone calls after 7 p.m., that a little reluctant criticism to adjust the balance will do no harm. That the rush of calls should lead to some delay during the first few weeks after the innovation was natural enough, but today, after close on twelve months, the evening service between London and the West of England is hopelessly bad. Various letters on that ‘particular area have appeared in The Times and from personal experience of attempts to telephone both to And from the West I can fully confirm them. One evening last week, for example, I put in a call to a North Devon subscriber at 7.38, to make full allowance for all possible contingencies. Soon afterwards I was rung up and told there was forty minutes' delay (information so frequently given as to suggest that it is a statutory formula). Finally, at 10.15, I cancelled the call, not desiring to summon the subscriber at the other end from bed—as I had already done twice unintentionally owing to the delay in getting through from the West. I must in fairness add that one night I got through in 20 minutes. But that still leaves the average thoroughly bad. It ought to be vastly improved. If the lines to the West of England (communication with the north is far better) are insufficient then let more be laid. Plenty of men would be glad of the work.