Leeds nostalgia: Plan to put a phone in every home in UK

WE might think we live in the midst of a telecommunications revolution today but turn the clocks back 70 years and the feeling was much the same after ministers in the House of Commons outlined plans to make the telephone 'not merely a business necessity but a domestic amenity'.

Plans were drawn up under the Post Office and Telegraphs Bill to create 700,000 new subscribers to the telephone network. This would cost an estimated £50m.

Mini­sters pointed out there was a clear demand, too, with some 300,000 on the waiting list for a home phone.

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Assistant Postmaster-General Mr Burke said: “We want the telephone to become not merely a business necessity but a domestic amenity.”

There was also cause to celebrate the nation’s postal network - it was pointed out that a letter posted anywhere in the UK at about 6pm or 7pm would reach its destination by the first post of the following morning.

In other news, Leeds Corporation was given the go-ahead by the Government to build 2,000 prefabricated homes.

The contractor was N B Bell and Co Ltd, the contracts were awarded in February and were worth £2,524,000. The same contractor also secured another deal to build 500 brick houses for £610,600. The dwellings were to be built on the Belle Isle, Beckett’s Park, Seacroft, Ireland Wood, Iveson House and Low Farm estates.

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Finally, bread was banned from Leeds restaurants at lunch time in a bid to save 40 or 50 loaves a day. Alderman G Peart, chair of Leeds Civic Catering Committee said: “It’s the soup course that causes all the trouble... we are, therefore, eliminating bread from midday meals.”