asked the Postmaster-General whether the installation of pay-on-answer telephone boxes is being restricted until a decision is made on decimal coinage.

No, Sir.

Can my right hon. Friend assure me that the machines now being installed are capable of inexpensive adaptation when we have decimal coinage?

We have ordered pay-on-answer boxes which will meet our needs until about the beginning of 1965. However, if and when decimal coinage is adopted, all these boxes will require substantial modification.

Can my right hon. Friend assure me that they are being designed so that their adaptation will not be an expensive and lengthy process?

That is a factor which will be taken into account when new orders are placed.