§ MR. W. H. SMITHasked the First Lord of the Treasury, with reference to the responsibility of the local authorities of the Metropolis for any mischief which might result from the fracture of telegraph wires, he will state whether these wires are not vested in the Postmaster General by Statute; and, if he will also state under what Statute local authorities have a right of interference, or the power to call on the Postmaster General to remove any wires they may consider dangerous to the public safety?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir HENRY JAMES), in reply said, the Question had already been answered in the House. The matter was regulated by three Acts of 1863, 1868, and 1878. The first of these measures gave power to the Telegraph Companies to make such erections, with the consent of the local authorities; and the Act of 1868 transferred the powers vested in the Telegraph Companies to the Post Office. By the Act of 1878, if any question arose between the Postmaster General and the local authorities with respect to these matters it was to be settled by the arbitration of a magistrate. The local authority was thus primâ facie intrusted with the safety of the public; it was their duty to see that the public were not exposed to danger in the streets that were vested in them.