The Efficient Post Office The success of Sir Kingsley Wood's
policy at the Post Office is put beyond doubt by the statistics just made available of the increase in public demands on the ser- vice. For the first time, the number of telephone sub- scribers reached 2,500,000 in November, and the number of local and trunk calls reached record proportions during the year. The present Postmaster-General, Major Tryon, seems determined to coidinue the policy of expansion and further developments are foreshadowed for this year. The rural subscriber has at last had the telephone service brought down to a reasonable figure, but there is still room for advance in that direction. The arguments against State control, which were mainly based on the charges of inefficiency with high costs, have been completely disposed of by the businesslike methods introduced by Sir Kingsley Wood, and it should not now be difficult for Major Tryon and his staff to retain the hold on the popular imagination which the publicity campaign did so much to secure. The other great public services, not under State control, have not failed to realise the value of advertising and the necessity of keeping their stock and plant up to date. It is notable, in this connexion, that one of the great transport companies, the G. W. R., is undertaking one of the largest programmes of re-equipment it has launched for many years—and that quite apart from the Government Guar- anteed Loan Scheme. Both publicly and privately managed services are showing their mettle.
Previous page
