I move:—
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £1,629,343 chun slánuithe na suime is gá chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1942, chun Tuarastail agus Costaisí Oifig an Aire Puist agus Telegrafa (45 agus 46 Vict., c. 74; 8 Edw. 7, c. 48; 1 agus 2 Geo. 5, c. 26; na hAchtanna Telegrafa, 1863 go 1928, etc.); agus Seirbhísí áirithe eile atá fé riaradh na hOifige sin.
That a sum, not exceeding £1,629,343, be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending the 31st day of March, 1942, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs (45 and 46 Vict., c. 74; 8 Edw. 7, c. 48; 1 and 2 Geo. 5, c. 26; The Telegraph Acts, 1863 to 1928; etc.), and of certain other Services administered by that Office.
The net Post Office expenditure for the year 1941-42 is estimated at £2,515,143. This sum, which includes £41,964 in respect of staff loaned to other Government Departments, mainly for emergency services, and of balance of civil pay of officers absent on military service, represents a net increase of £27,708 on the provision for 1940-41.
The gross increase is approximately £53,300. This is mainly made up of £12,000 increased cost of substitution of officers on loan or on military service and of additional staff, mostly for telephone operation; £14,000 in respect of increased wages and travelling expenses for engineering maintenance and of reduced relief from Telephone Capital; £8,000 in respect of increased prices of non-engineering stores; £9,000 increased provision for superannuation; £6,100 for additional equipment at civil aviation stations; £1,450 in respect of conveyance of mails by road; and £1,400 in respect of miscellaneous engineering expenses, etc. There are offsetting reductions totalling £29,000, made up of £17,000 due to anticipated decreased purchases of engineering materials as a result of difficulties in obtaining supplies and the proposed use of reserve stocks; £1,000 reduction in engineering contract work; £3,300 reduced cost of conveyance of external mails; £2,700 reduced operating force at civil aviation stations. There are also reductions in agency service and superannuation costs, etc. These reductions, taken in conjunction with a lower credit of £3,300 for Appropriations-in-Aid, make the estimated net increase in expenditure £27,708.
Before presenting the customary information regarding the Department's financial position as ascertained from the commercial accounts, I wish to refer briefly to the effects on Post Office revenue of the conditions which have developed as a result of the disturbed international situation. In presenting the Estimates for 1940-41, in April of last year, I mentioned that, up to the end of the financial year 1939-40, which included seven months of the European War, so far from there having been any adverse effects, Post Office revenue had, as a whole, actually improved. Although postal and telegraph earnings had decreased (by £16,300 and £4,500 respectively), the reductions were more than counterbalanced by improved receipts from telephones (approximately £42,000), leaving a net increase of revenue of £21,000 in 1939-40 as compared with 1938-39. I expressed the hope at the time that this very satisfactory revenue position might be maintained during 1940-41, but it was not, of course, then possible to foresee the very marked change in the situation which has since developed, with its serious reactions upon trade and industry and resulting repercussions upon Post Office services. Actually, there has been quite a substantial drop in revenue during the past 12 months. Complete figures are not yet available, but it is estimated that, as compared with 1939-40, the decrease will amount to about £82,000. Postal earnings are down by about £124,000, the main causes being the cessation of the major activities of Irish Hospitals' Trust; the falling off in cross-Channel correspondence by reason of business restrictions arising from supply and transport difficulties; the serious curtailment of the foreign mail services, etc. As against the decline in postal earnings there was an increase of about £40,000 in telephone and of £2,000 in telegraph receipts, leaving a net decrease in revenue on the three services of, approximately, £82,000 for 1940-41.
As to probable revenue in the current financial year, the position will, of course, be materially affected by the increases in postal and telephone charges recently announced by the Minister for Finance in his Budget statement. Particulars of the increased charges are as follows:—
1. Inland Letters.—The rate for letters not exceeding 3 ounces will be increased from 2d. to 2½d., with ½d. for each additional ounce.
2. Inland Postcards.—Rate increased from 1d. to 1½d. (single), and from 2d. to 3d. (reply).
3. Foreign Letters.—Commowealth countries and United States of America: Minimum letter rate increased from 2d. to 2½d. for the first ounce, with 1½d. for each additional ounce.
4. Printed Papers.—Inland: Rate increased from ½d. per 2 ounces throughout to ½d. per ounce for the first 2 ounces, and ½d. for each 2 ounces beyond. Foreign: Rate increased from ½d. to 1d. per 2 ounces throughout.
5. Parcels (for delivery in Éire).—The new rates will be:—Not exceeding 2 lbs., 6d.; not exceeding 3 lbs., 8d.; not exceeding 5 lbs., 9d.; not exceeding 6 lbs., 11d.; not exceeding 8 lbs., 1/-; not exceeding 11 lbs., 1/1. This means an increase of 1d. at each point on the scale except at the 2 lbs., 5 lbs. and 8 lbs. points.
6. Telephones.—An addition of 5 per cent. will be made to subscribers' telephone accounts. There will also be some slight increase in the charges for trunk calls made from call offices and from coin boxes on subscribers' premises.
The increased postal charges came into operation on the 1st June, 1941; the increases in charges for trunk calls from call offices and subscribers' coin boxes will come into operation on 1st July, 1941; the percentage addition to telephone accounts from 1st October, 1941.
The increased charges will, it is estimated, bring in additional revenue of approximately £238,000 in a full year. In the current year the additional receipts are estimated at £190,000 making the total estimated revenue for 1941-42 £2,170,000.
I may here explain that the revenue figures I have given represent actual cash receipts. They are not to be confused with, nor are they comparable with, the revenue totals as shown in the commercial accounts. The latter take into consideration various services rendered by the Post Office to other Government Departments which are not paid for in cash.
The position of the three main services, postal, telegraphs and telephone, as indicated by the commercial accounts for the financial year 1939-40, the latest period for which these accounts are available, is as follows:—
Postal Services. — Revenue, £1,711,628; expenditure, £1,663,034; surplus, £48,594.
Telegraph services. — Revenue, £179,975; expenditure, £321,537; deficit, £141,562.
Telephone services. — Revenue, £597,422; expenditure, £516,903; surplus, £80,519.
These figures indicate that the Postal and Telephone services taken together showed at the end of the year 1939-40 a surplus of £129,113, but that, counteracting this, there was a loss on the Telegraphs of £141,562. Although the revenue from the three services had improved by approximately £13,700 as compared with 1938-39, expenditure had risen by approximately £77,500, due principally to the operation of a higher cost of living figure, to additional staff to meet growth of services, to the building up at increased prices of reserve stocks of general stores, watermarked paper and uniform clothing, etc. The net result was that the surplus on the three services of £51,321 which existed at the end of 1938-39 had been converted at the end of 1939-40 into a deficit of £12,449. Regrettable as this is, I am afraid that when the accounts for 1940-41 are available the deficit will be found to have increased, because, combined with the drop in revenue already referred to, there has been growing expenditure on all services.
So far as the operation of the internal postal services during the past year is concerned, there is nothing of importance to report. The services functioned as in normal times, apart from the decline in the quantity of traffic already referred to. In the case of the external services, however, further material disimprovement has taken place. The working schedules on the Dun Laoghaire-Holyhead service, the frequency of which had been reduced by half at an early stage of the hostilities, have been drastically altered, and the one service daily in each direction that now operates leaves Dun Laoghaire in the morning with outgoing mails and returns in the evening with incoming mails—the arrival being too late, however, to connect with the general night mails to the provinces.
As a result of the change the second delivery in Dublin has been suspended, as its continuance would serve no useful purpose. The Rosslare-Fishguard service works on only three nights a week and is now used for mail purposes only to a very limited extent. These restrictions on the cross-Channel services have involved a further slowing down in the transmission of correspondence between the two countries, but they are, of course, the outcome of war exigencies in Great Britain and the situation is one which it is not within the power of my Department, in present circumstances, either to control or remedy.
The enlargement of the scale of international hostilities has resulted in further disorganisation of the foreign mail services. No direct sailing from Eire to foreign countries are now operative and mails for all places abroad must, in consequence, necessarily circulate via Great Britain for onward transmission by such routes as are available. The times occupied in transit are, naturally, now very much in excess of those taken under normal conditions. In ward foreign mails are also very seriously delayed, and there has been a marked reduction in the quantity of correspondence conveyed, both outwards and inwards. Air mail outlets to the Near East, Egypt, India, Australia, etc., have been considerably curtailed, and there has also been further restriction of the foreign money order services due to exchange and communication difficulties. The money order arrangements with the United States, Canada, Newfoundland, Cuba, South Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand are, however, still operative.
The financial condition of the telegraph service is, unfortunately, becoming steadily worse. The deficit of £129,737, which existed at the end of the year 1938-39, had grown at the end of 1939-40 to £141,562, an increase of £11,825, and there has since been no improvement in the position. Although there was a small increase of about £2,000 in receipts in 1940-41, this was due to the rentals of additional private wires provided during the year. Traffic continued to decline, the number of originating messages having dropped by about 60,000. The decline in traffic was the result, in part, of disturbed business conditions, but mainly of the growing popularity of the telephone. In relation to the increasing unprofitableness of the telegraphs, I think it well to say here that reduction of rates, which is frequently suggested, would prove no remedy. There is ample proof of this in what happened in 1937, when the minimum charge for internal messages was reduced from 1/6 for 12 words to 1/- for nine words. The revenue from the additional traffic which did, for a time, manifest itself was insufficient to cover the loss arising from the reduction of charge and the concession was responsible for a drop in telegraph earnings of, approximately, £9,500 a year.
Telegraph communication by cable was provided during the year to the islands of Dursey and Whiddy, County Cork, and Inishfree, County Donegal. Post offices were, at the same time, opened on the islands. The provision of wireless telegraphy service to 11 other islands has been delayed by difficulties in procuring certain important items of equipment. The outstanding apparatus has, however, just come to hand and the work will now be proceeded with as expeditiously as possible.
I am glad to be able to report a substantial development in the telephone service during the past year. As already mentioned, revenue has grown by about £40,000. While the growth has been mainly due to increased use by the Defence services, expansion has also taken place in ordinary public traffic. Emergency conditions and the difficulties for industry and trade arising therefrom, which have adversely affected the other Departmental services, have tended to bring grist to the telephone mill. The number of local calls in 1940 was 34,200,000—an increase of 878,000 over the number for the previous year. The number of trunk calls was 4,247,000, an increase of 334,000.
The total number of subscribers' lines at the end of 1940 was 29,243, an increase of 446 on the figures at the end of the previous year. The total number of telephones in use was 45,382, an increase of 1,120. The number of automatic telephones in the Dublin and Dún Laoghaire areas is now 24,843, an increase of 1,795. The growth in subscribers would have been even greater were it not for difficulties in providing service, a considerable amount of the time of the engineering staff having to be devoted during the year to communication needs arising out of emergency conditions. Some very extensive construction work has been carried out throughout the country for the Department of Defence and the Gárda Síochána and, in the Dublin district, for the Air Raid Precautions services. This diversion of engineering activities had, in many cases, the effect of materially delaying the provision of new lines for ordinary subscribers. While the position in this connection has improved, it will be some time before the arrears of subscribers' installations can be overtaken and, in the meantime, new applications may suffer some unavoidable delay. Every effort will, however, be made to keep the delay to a minimum.
Thirty-six new exchanges and 17 new public call offices—including four street kiosks—were opened last year. There are now 836 exchanges and 1,510 call offices, including 152 street kiosks. The number of additional trunk and junction circuits provided was 118. The number of high efficiency "carrier" circuits on the main trunk routes is now 62—an increase of ten during the year. Telephone service was extended to the Belmullet Peninsula in July last and exchanges and call offices were opened at Belmullet, Blacksod and Bangor Erris. There is now no extensive area of the country without telephone service.
Work is in progress on the installation of a new central trunk exchange in Exchequer Street, Dublin, with equipment of the most up-to-date type. It is hoped that the new exchange will be completed and in service during the current year unless emergency conditions cause unavoidable delay. It is the intention later to provide an additional exchange in St. Andrew Street, linked with Exchequer Street, and that, ultimately, the trunks shall be wholly removed from the Crown Alley Exchange, which will then function solely as an automatic exchange for local services.
An extensive re-arrangement of circuits in the Dublin area between the various automatic exchanges was carried out during the year. This re-arrangement provides an improved margin of safety for the Dublin service should a major disaster occur at any one of the automatic exchanges. Subscribers connected to the Ballasbridge exchange are being transferred to the automatic system and the transfer is nearing completion. The total number of subscribers affected is about 1,300. The extension of the experimental semi-automatic system in rural districts, which was contemplated, has had to be abandoned for the time being. As the apparatus has to be obtained from outside the country, mainly from the U.S.A., it will not be possible to make further progress in the matter while the emergency lasts.
In regard to the standard of telephone service now generally afforded to the public, the position is that while the internal service is, on the whole, reasonably good, there are times when it is unavoidably affected by conditions arising out of the emergency. I have already referred to the large increase in trunk traffic which has taken place and which, of course, tends to block up circuits, especially at the busy periods. In addition, due to increasing business difficulties, the duration of calls has tended to become longer. Further, urgent calls on Army, Gárda Síochána, and other emergency services must necessarily be given priority over ordinary public traffic. All these factors from time to time involve the holding up of public calls in greater or lesser degree, and unfortunately the provision of additional circuits for relief purposes has in many cases had to be postponed by reason of the necessity for attention to the more urgent needs of the Defence services. I can assure the House that every effort is made by the Department to keep delay to a minimum, but it will be recognised that in present circumstances the situation is one which it is not possible wholly to rectify. In Dublin the increasing local traffic occasionally causes congestion in the Crown Alley Exchange; any difficulties in this connection, particularly as regards calls to "0,""30" and "31," will however disappear when the new exchange in Exchequer Street is in operation. The service in Dublin and in a large area to the north of Dublin was also materially affected for some weeks by a severe storm which occurred in January last, causing considerable damage to trunk and local plant.
Telephone service between Éire and Great Britain has been very detrimentally affected by war conditions. The matter is one which is not, of course, within the control of this Administration. The continental and overseas telephone services have been suspended since the outbreak of hostilities.
Capital expenditure on telephones in 1940-41 amounted to £170,000 approximately. The programme for the coming year, if it proves possible to carry it out in full, will cost about £144,000, of which approximately £54,000 will be for automatics, mainly for the provision of the new automatic exchange at Exchequer Street, Dublin; £51,000 for additional subscribers' and renters' lines; £9,000 for additional high efficiency "carrier" circuits; £6,000 for new overhead trunks; and £7,000 on underground development, etc. The extent to which this programme can be carried out in practice will, however, depend upon the scope of any further demands in connection with Defence communications that may be received, as well as upon the position in regard to supplies of engineering stores and materials.
In regard to the problem of supplies, I may say that the greater part of the plant and apparatus used for engineering purposes is made outside Éire and that the reserves which had been accumulated during recent years have been seriously eaten into by the exceptional demands for Defence purposes during the past 12 months.
The problem of replenishment has of late been proving more and more difficult and as, in addition, prices are seriously increasing, I have been compelled to decide upon a policy of rigid economy in regard to engineering stores consumption so as to ensure, as far as practicable, that materials necessary for the maintenance of essential services may at all times be available. Accordingly, until the position eases, new construction works which involve any substantial quantity of stores will, unless where essential services are concerned, be rigidly curtailed. Every effort will, however, be made to meet the demands from new subscribers as far as circumstances admit, but the difficulties in the way of providing circuits involving long pole routes are considerable and, even when it is possible to erect such circuits, very long delay will be inevitable. I feel sure that, in the circumstances indicated, Deputies will recognise that the conservative policy which I am now forced to adopt in the matter of further telephone expansion is absolutely unavoidable.
In addition to the new trunk exchange in Exchequer Street, Dublin, on which work is now in progress, and the contemplated new exchange and post office in St. Andrew Street, plans for which are almost ready, the Department has under consideration schemes for the enlargement of the district office at James's Street, Dublin; for the erection of a new district office on a site adjacent to the Gárda barracks at Whitehall, Drumcondra; for an extension of office accommodation at Thurles; and for structural alterations at the head post office at Cork to enable a new telephone exchange to be installed and the public office to be improved.
It is hoped that it may be possible to make substantial progress with these works during the coming financial year. In relation to the proposed new post office in St. Andrew Street, Dublin, I may say here, in connection with questions on the point which have previously been raised, that it is not the Department's intention to have sorting work performed in this office. No mail vans will be detained or delayed in St. Andrew Street, as they will merely call there for the purpose of collecting posted correspondence and conveying it to the chief office in Pearse Street. So far as the post office is concerned, therefore, there will be no danger of interference with general public traffic passing through St. Andrew Street.
Savings bank business continues to expand. The deposits during the 12 months ended 31st December last amounted to a total of £3,226,700, an increase of £309,170 on the figures for the previous year. Withdrawals amounted to £2,312,050, an increase of £221,362. The increase in the balance held on behalf of ordinary depositors, including interest of £277,570 earned during the year, amounted to £1,192,220. In accordance with the provisions of the Finance Act, 1940, moneys of the Trustee Savings Bank, which were formerly transferred to the National Debt Commissioners, London, have, since 21st November, 1940, been paid into a special account of the Minister for Finance at the Bank of Ireland and invested by way of deposit in the Post Office Savings Bank. A sum of £190,100 was so invested during the period ended 31st March, 1941.
The pressure on the Stores Branch, which arose in 1939 as the result of emergency conditions, was intensified during 1940, mainly in connection with the provision of uniform and other supplies for the expanding Defence Forces, the newly constituted Local Security Force, and the A.R.P. services. Considerable difficulties were experienced in the early part of the year in regard to woollen supplies and, in June last, the Minister for Supplies found it necessary to make an order which secured practically the whole output of the Irish woollen mills for Army requirements. Orders for approximately 700,000 yards of Army serges and cloths were placed and for 1,250,000 yards of cotton, almost the whole of which went to mills in Éire. Upon the stores branch fell the responsibility for the arranging of contracts, both for manufacture and tailoring, for inspection of contractors' premises and for ensuring that supplies were expeditiously delivered and were up to standard. The value of contracts placed by the stores branch in 1940 reached the huge total of £2,052,947, more than double the total for 1939 and almost five times the total for normal times. Expenditure on articles manufactured or assembled in Éire amounted to £1,797,051, as against £716,943 in the previous year.
Difficulties in procuring supplies also arose from the shortage of raw materials, both at home and in Great Britain, as well as from restrictions on the export of certain classes of commodities from Great Britain and the consequent inability of British contractors to carry out contracts already entered into. In some cases it has been necessary to place alternative contracts in the U.S.A. at seriously increased cost and, of course, with considerable delays in delivery.
I may mention that supplies of pine poles from foreign countries for telephone and telegraph purposes were completely cut off in September last. Home-grown larch poles have since been substituted, contracts for approximately 12,700 such poles, being placed last year. These home-grown poles are, however, only suitable for light construction.
The provision under sub-head Q in respect of Civil Aviation and Meteorological Wireless services, which are provided and operated by the Post Office on behalf of the Department of Industry and Commerce, amounts to £43,020, an increase of £3,475 on the total provision for last year. There are decreases of £2,240 and £430 under Q (1) and Q (3)—Salaries, Wages, etc., and Travelling respectively. The provision under sub-head Q (2)—Equipment Charges, etc —represents, on the other hand, an increase of £6,145, of which £4,820 is for customs duty on imported apparatus; £538 for new equipment at Rynanna and for electrical heating at Ballygirreen and £787 for increased cost of maintenance, due to extended hours of operation of transmitters. In regard to the customs duty item, I may explain that this has reference to apparatus already imported which, it was at first understood, would be admitted duty free. The Revenue Commissioners have, however, since intimated that duty will be payable.
In concluding this statement I would like to express my appreciation of the very satisfactory manner in which the officers generally of the Department have carried out their duties during a very strenuous year.
