I move:—
That a sum not exceeding £5,503,500 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1958, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs (45 & 46 Vict., c. 74; 8 Edw. 7, c. 48; 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 26; the Telegraph Acts, 1863 to 1953; No. 45 of 1926; No. 14 of 1940 (secs. 30 and 31); No. 14 of 1942 (sec. 23); No. 17 of 1951; etc.), and of certain other Services administered by that Office.
In view of the short time since I assumed office, Deputies will, I am sure, not expect me to be fully informed of the activities of the Department or to have examined its policies in any great detail. In presenting this Estimate, therefore, all I propose to do is to indicate how it compares with last year's Estimate, to give briefly some explanation of the more substantial variations in the amounts provided under certain sub-heads and then to give some account of the working of the various services during the past year and of the Department's proposed activities during the current year.
The net Estimate for 1957-58 amounts to £8,663,500, being a gross total of £9,209,108 less Appropriations-in-Aid of £545,608. The net provision represents an increase of £65,500 on that for 1956-57. As indicated on page 284 of the Volume of Estimates that figure takes into account the additional provision of £12,000 for 1956-57, the Department's share of the Vote for Increases in Pensions approved by the Dáil on the 21st November, 1956. In making comparisons between sub-heads of the Estimate this additional provision for 1956-57 has been taken into consideration.
The more substantial variations— those of £10,000 or more—occur on the following sub-heads:—
Sub-head A (1)—Salaries, Wages and Allowances (Headquarters): The increase of £15,000 is mainly due to normal incremental increases and revised scales of pay.
Sub-head A (2)—Salaries, Wages and Allowances (Metropolitan): The decrease of £23,000 arises from savings on staff secured by revised delivery services and reorganisation of the Telegraph Service.
Sub-head D—Purchase of sites, etc: Decrease £22,000. The sites to be acquired this year are less costly than those purchased last year.
Sub-head E (1)—Conveyance of Mails by rail: The increase of £34,800 is due to higher payments to the Railway Companies in respect of parcel traffic which is offset by increased revenue from the traffic.
Sub-head G (1)—Stores (other than Engineering): The increase of £23,500 is mainly due to the higher cost of petrol and the import levies on new departmental transport.
Sub-head G (2)—Stores (other than Engineering): The decrease, £12,000, is due to the use of emergency reserve stocks for normal needs.
Sub-head K-Engineering Materials: In the case of this sub-head also, the decrease, £29,500, is due to the use of emergency reserve stocks for normal needs.
Sub-head L (2)—Contract Work: The decrease of £59,000 is due to reduced provision for the renewal of equipment at Malin Head and Valentia wireless stations and for lighting, heating and lifts.
Sub-head M-Telephone Capital Repayments: Increase, £127,108. Funds for the development of the telephone system are provided under the authority of the Telephone Capital Acts (1924 to 1956), which authorise the Minister for Finance to issue sums out of the Central Fund for this purpose. Repayment of these funds is made by means of terminable annuities extending over a period not exceeding 25 years. In consultation with the Minister for Finance, provision is made each year under sub-head M for the repayment of the instalments of principal and interest on the annuities created. The increased provision in the sub-head is an indication of the continuing expansion of the telephone system.
Sub-head T: The increase of £22,458 is mainly due to anticipated increased receipts from the Social Insurance Fund and the Savings Bank Fund for administrative expenses.
Mail services operated satisfactorily during the past year. A good standard of regularity and punctuality was maintained and the introduction of diesel working on C.I.E. trunk line mail trains resulted in postal improvements in many areas by way of earlier deliveries or later despatches.
The volume of letter traffic showed an upward trend. There was, however, a slight fall in the number of parcels handled.
Christmas traffic was again very heavy. Thanks to the very good response by the public to the appeals to post early the huge volume of mail was handled expeditiously and that posted by the advertised dates was delivered before Christmas.
Postal delivery services in Dublin were reorganised during the year and put on a more rational and economic basis. The reorganisation achieved a substantial saving in costs.
The general reorganisation of postal delivery services in rural areas was continued. A daily frequency of delivery and a better standard of service were provided in Wexford Head Office District and part of the Waterford District. The reorganisation of the Limerick and Ennis Districts will be implemented in the near future. Work on the reorganisation of Bantry and the remaining portion of Waterford is well advanced and a start has been made in the Mallow area. It is hoped to commence work during the current year on the remaining eight districts which have yet to be reorganised.
A special postage stamp, printed by the recess process, was issued in two denominations on 16th September, 1956, to mark the unveiling in Wexford of the statue of Commodore John Barry, which was presented to the nation by the people of the United States of America. Two new stamps are to be issued shortly to commemorate the centenaries of John Redmond and Tomás O Criomhthain, and later in the year two further special stamps will be issued in honour of Admiral Brown and Father Luke Wadding.
During the year two new sub-offices were opened and money order and Savings Bank facilities were extended to ten existing sub-offices.
Reorganisation of the telegraph service continued during the year on the lines indicated in the White Paper issued to Deputies in July, 1955. The reorganisation aims at reducing the number of handlings of telegrams to a minimum, firstly, by direct telephoning of short distance telegrams from receiving to delivery office and, secondly by transmission of long distance messages over a telegraph automatic switching system. By means of this system telegraph offices may obtain direct teleprinter communication with each other without having to call upon the services of intermediate offices.
The reorganisation proposals assumed a substantial reduction in the volume of traffic which has, in fact, taken place. During the year ending 31st March last the number of telegrams handled was 2,127,000 as compared with 2,774,000 in the previous year. The decline in traffic has, however, slackened in recent months.
The telegraph offices at Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Dún Laoghaire and Shannon Airport are now working on the telegraphic automatic switching system. There remain 21 centres still to be connected. Delivery of the equipment necessary to connect them has been delayed but is now expected within the next few months and the scheme should be completed before the end of the year.
Morse telegraph working has been abolished at 21 more offices leaving only 15 where this form of telegraphy is still in use. It will cease altogether later this year concurrently with the completion of the telegraph automatic switching system. The telegraph service will then be working entirely on modern equipment. Considerable staff savings have already been effected as a result of the fall in traffic and modernisation of working methods and more are expected in the course of the current year.
The telex service which was started in January, 1956, continues to grow; during the year 20 subscribers were added, bringing the total number of subscribers to 49.
It has not so far been found possible to introduce a greetings telegraph service as planned, but the arrangements are in train and a date for introduction will be announced later.
The expansion of the telephone service continued during 1956. Some 8,880 miles of new circuits were added to the trunk network. The number of new subscribers' exchange lines provided was 9,397, which was approximately 20 per cent. greater than the previous record figure in 1955. The number of effective waiting applications for telephones was reduced from 4,200 on 31st December, 1955, to 2,800 approximately on 31st December, 1956. The latest figure (for 31st March last) was 3,100, of which 2,100 were in Dublin. Sixty-five new telephone kiosks were provided.
During 1956 local calls totalled 92,000,000 and trunk calls 13,952,000 showing increases of 4,000,000 and 218,000 respectively as compared with 1955 figures. The increase in trunk traffic was lower than in previous years.
The western co-axial cable was completed during the year providing ample circuits between Dublin and Sligo and between intermediate exchanges on this route. As the cable is the main outlet for exchanges in the west and north-west it has enabled a general improvement of trunk service to be given over a considerable part of the country.
The erection of overhead trunk cables on seven other routes commenced during the year. These cables will be brought into service shortly to provide some 2,000 miles of additional circuits. In addition, "carrier" systems, by which extra conversation channels are provided on existing wires, were brought into operation on 15 trunk routes, including Dublin-Arklow, Enniscorthy-Gorey, Thurles-Clonmel, Cork-Clonakilty, Limerick-Listowel, Galway-Claremorris. Altogether some 240 additional trunk circuits were provided on 170 routes throughout the country.
During the current year some 5,000 miles of extra circuits will be provided on routes where they are most needed, mainly by the use of "carrier" equipment.
During 1956 eight new automatic exchanges were opened and 130 exchanges were extended. Mullingar exchange was converted to automatic working as the first part of a scheme now in hand for automatic operation of all the exchanges in the Mullingar area. Automatic exchanges were also provided at Ardee and Rathluirc.
In Dublin new temporary automatic exchanges were opened at Walkinstown and Nutley Lane and automatic service was extended to Castleknock. Additional equipment was installed at a number of the Dublin automatic exchanges.
In March last, Drogheda exchange was converted to automatic working and this will be followed later in the year by the opening of new automatic exchanges at Limerick, Sligo, Longford, Naas and at a number of smaller places.
Recently subscribers served by the Athlone automatic exchange have, as an experiment, been given the facility of dialling trunk calls directly to Dublin and Cork subscribers. This service is the first long-distance subscriber-dialling service to be introduced in these islands.
Later this year Dublin subscribers will be enabled to dial subscribers at Bray, Greystones and the other automatic exchanges in the vicinity of the city. At present such calls require the services of an operator.
Extensive damage was caused to telephone plants throughout the country by storms in January and February last. Services were restored on a temporary basis within a short period but the repair work has considerably upset the construction programme in many areas.
As already mentioned, the number of new subscribers' installations reached a record level in 1956. This was rendered possible largely by progress already made in the provision of underground cables prior to last summer when it became necessary to reduce the volume of telephone construction work being undertaken because of shortage of capital. The result, though not reflected in the waiting list up to the end of December last, has been to delay further the clearance of waiting applications, particularly in urban areas requiring underground relief works.
In rural areas also the amount of work undertaken has had to be curtailed and this has particularly affected applications involving heavy construction work. Unfortunately, delays in installation work affecting a certain proportion of applications will be unavoidable so long as capital shortage persists. Indeed, the Department will be fortunate if it can keep the waiting list from increasing materially and at the same time continue to meet the expanding needs of the trunk and exchange services. With these primary ends in view plans for further extensive conversion of manual exchanges to automatic working are being deferred in order to conserve capital for more essential purposes.
New buildings were completed and brought into service during the past year at Drogheda, Naas, Mullingar, and new buildings were completed and are now in course of being equipped for service at Limerick, Sligo, Naas and Palmerstown, Co. Dublin. Improvement works were completed at Dundalk, Carrick-on-Suir, Lifford and Longford Post Offices. Work is in progress on the erection of new buildings at Galway, Athenry and Cootehill. The virtual rebuilding of the Kilkenny Post Office has reached the final stages. It is hoped that work will commence during the present financial year on the erection of new buildings at Letterkenny, Crumlin, County Dublin, and Droichead Nua, and on automatic telephone exchange buildings at a number of centres including, for the Dublin area, Dundrum, Stillorgan and Walkinstown, and on the adaptation of existing buildings at Donegal, Loughrea, Nenagh and Bray. Apart from the foregoing the planning of other new building schemes and adaptation or improvement works is continuing.
With regard to the proposed new central sorting office at Dublin, in view of the urgent need for economy in State expenditure the plans were subjected, during the year to critical review with the object of reducing the capital expenditure on the project to the lowest possible dimensions. As a result, a revised cost estimate was prepared by the Commissioners of Public Works, and my Department is awaiting the sanction of the Department of Finance for the expenditure involved. Whilst the cost estimate represents a very substantial expenditure of capital moneys and must, of course, be considered in relation to the other demands on the Government for capital expenditure, I am satisfied that there is, and has been for years past, a real need for the new building. The revision of the original cost estimate has, unfortunately, led to some unavoidable delay, but I am now hopeful that the position will shortly be reached when the Commissioners of Public Works will be enabled to proceed with the preparation of contract drawings.
The value of deposits in the Post Office Savings Bank during the year 1956 amounted to £15,292,000, representing a decrease of £105,000 in comparison with the corresponding figure for 1955. Withdrawals amounted to £14,691,000, an increase of £2,062,000 on the figure for 1955. Estimating the interest due to depositors for 1956 at £1,756,000, the total balance due to depositors on 31st December, 1956, was approximately £73,542,000, as against £71,185,000 on 31st December, 1955.
Deposits during the year by the Trustee Savings Banks amounted to £773,000 and withdrawals to £690,000, a decrease of £435,000 on deposits and £66,000 on withdrawals. The balance to credit of the Trustee Savings Banks at the end of the year, including £324,000 for interest, was approximately £11,398,000.
It would appear that heavy withdrawals from the Post Office Savings Bank and by the Trustee Savings Banks were made for the purpose of reinvestment in the National Loans and Savings Certificates.
The estimated combined balances, Post Office and Trustee Savings Banks, on the 31st December, 1956, amounted to £84,940,000, compared with £82,176,000 on the same date in 1955.
During the year 1956 there was a marked increase in Savings Certicate transaction as compared with the previous year. Receipts from sales amounted to £4,165,000, repayment of principal to £2,239,000 and of interest to £713,000. Corresponding figures for 1955 were £2,103,000, £1,438,000 and £478,000. The increase in sales was due mainly to the introduction of the attractive 6th Issue in May, 1956. Judging from the time at which they were sought the increase in repayments was due to investments by Saving Certificate holders in 5 per cent. National Savings Bonds and 5½ per cent. National Loan and to transfers from other Issues to the 6th Issue.
The amount of principal due to investors at the end of the year stood at £20,572,000, compared to £18,645,000 at the end of 1955.
In the campaign for increased savings, the Department has worked in close co-operation with the Savings Committee since it was set up in December, 1955.
The number of staff provided for in the Estimate, 16,427, shows a small reduction on the number, 16,678, for the previous year. The largest reduction is in the labouring force in the Engineering Branch.
Relations between the Department and its staff continued to be good during the year. The conciliation council, set up under the conciliation and arbitration scheme for the Civil Service, provided the main forum for discussion with the staff on matters of mutual concern. On some 14 claims submitted to the council agreement was reached between the two sides on all but one. Claims for improvement in wages, related solely to the value of work done, have been disposed of now in the case of practically all the grades. So far as can be seen from the claims now listed, the work of the council is likely to be mainly concerned with claims other than wages claims, that is, with such matters as working hours and conditions, establishment and so on. Few of such claims can, of course, be conceded without extra cost. The steady rise in staff costs is one of the reasons that make it imperative that the Department should seek to make its working as efficient and economical as possible.
As my predecessor mentioned last year the council has been dealing with the problems arising out of the reorganisation of the telegraph service. That reorganisation has necessitated the suppression of posts, both in the operating and supervisory grades, and the re-deployment of officers. The staff have, I am glad to be informed, taken a realistic and co-operative attitude to those problems.
The Sub-Postmasters' Consultative Council set up last year to provide a formal means of consultation for sub-postmasters who do not come under the conciliation and arbitration scheme, shows every sign of being a most useful and helpful body, from the point of view of all concerned.
When speaking last year on the Estimate for the Department my predecessor referred to the heavy additional costs which had to be met in respect of salary and wage increases awarded to the staff through the conciliation and arbitration machinery and which, since 1954, have risen to £840,000 per annum. He explained that these rising costs were bound to have a marked effect on the overall financial result of the working of the Department which for the year 1955-56, it was expected, would show a marked disimprovement compared with that for the year 1954-55 when the overall deficit was £246,016. It was, indeed, estimated that the overall deficit for 1955-56 would prove to be of the order of £500,000. I am glad to be able to report that the position turned out to be more favourable, the deficit proving to be £368,479 made up of: Postal Service, deficit, £264,617; Telegraph Service, deficit, £238,299; Telephone Service, profit, £134,437.
This improvement in the position was due mainly to increased revenue but very substantial savings were also secured by the introduction of modern and more economical methods of operation in the Telegraph Service.
Definite figures for last year, 1956-57, are not yet available. It is estimated, however, that the financial position will show a further marked improvement, the overall deficit being reduced by £222,000 approximately, to £146,000 made up of: Postal Service, deficit, £176,000; Telegraph Service, deficit, £220,000; Telephone Service, profit, £250,000.
At this stage it is not possible to give any reasonably reliable estimate of what the position is likely to be at the end of the current year. If, however, the present trend of traffic continues and no unforeseen heavy increase in expenditure should arise it is not unreasonable to assume that the year's working will result in a further improvement in the financial position.
In conclusion, I should like to avail of this, my first opportunity, to pay a tribute to my predecessor who gave such long service in this House. I feel sure every member of the House will join with me in expressing the hope that he may have many long years of happiness in his retirement.