3 JUNE 1949, Page 5

Half the battle against higher telephone charges has been won.

The increase in basic rentals—an impost which no one could escape— is abandoned for the present, which pretty certainly means altogether. But the surcharge for every individual call after the first zoo is still to go up from 55 per cent. to 50 per cent. That applies to private individuals. Business houses do not get the 200 free calls ; on the other hand, all their telephone costs naturally rank as expenses, and they are relieved of income-tax to that extent. Since the Chancellor of the Exchequer refuses to realise that cheap communications are as important as free health services, all the individual subscribet can do is to cut his calls to a minimum—and wherever possible make the other man ring him up.