• * * On Friday, May 15th, the Commons discussed
our telephones on the Post Office Bill. The Assistant Post- master-General gave a rosy account of development up to now and expected to spend over thirty millions in development over the next three years. The critics, led by Lord Wollner, a game-keeper turned poacher, rated the Government less heartily than the whole system, which leads directly to high charges. There was nothing new in the criticism, for the State is already known to be naturally at its worst where initiation and adaptation are needed, and since the work is done by men doubly " sheltered " both from foreign competition and, under a strict monopoly, from competition at home, and working at " the Government stroke," the costs and the output inevitably compare ill with those of any private or competing enterprise.
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