§ MR. LAINGasked the Postmaster General, What is the reason of the long delay in giving the county of Orkney and Shetland the long promised extension of the postal telegraph; and, whether he can state what steps the Government is taking, and how soon those islands will be relieved from the exceptional position of being the only considerable district of the United Kingdom which is deprived of the benefit of the postal telegraph?
§ Mr. W. H. SMITH,in reply, said, that within the last 24 hours the Postmaster General had been informed that the Orkney and Shetland Telegraphs Company had, after long negotiations, resolved to accept the terms offered by him. An engineer would go down this week, and it was hoped that arrangements would be made by which the postal telegraphs would be extended to those Islands.