asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs whether he will state (a) the number of call offices installed during the six months ended 31/12/51 where the radial distance from the nearest telephone exchange is five miles or over, and (b) whether any call office other than those announced have been installed; and, if so, if he will state the sub-offices in which they were installed.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Telephone Call Offices.
The information requested is as follows:—
(a) One. Two others were installed at a distance of over five miles but not to the nearest existing exchange.
(b) Yes. The offices concerned were Archerstown, Cappatagle, Fuerty, Kildangan and Ballytruckle.
In the case of the rural offices referred to in (b), it was found convenient to provide call offices in conjunction with subscribers' applications in the same area or other engineering work.
I should add that it has been decided to complete the call office programme in two years so that the order of installation will have only negligible importance in the future.
Were there any exceptional circumstances?
The reason was, as I stated, that it was found that at that moment subscribers' applications in the same area could be joined in conjunction with an area clearing scheme and that it would be more convenient to install a call office then than at a later date.