§ MR. STUART-WORTLEYasked the Postmaster General, Whether it is the fact that overhead telegraph and telephone wires are in some cases stretched 1122 across streets, not only by Her Majesty's Post Office, but also by persons not empowered to do so, either by Act of Parliament or by any licence from the public bodies in whom is vested the soil of the street across which such wires are stretched; whether there exist any means of ascertaining the number of overhead wires in the Metropolis which belong to private owners or companies which have ceased to use them, or for other reasons have ceased to keep them in repair; and, whether it may not be the case that there is an increasing number of overhead wires, of which the owners cannot be identified, which are practically abandoned, and which are daily falling more and more out of repair, and becoming more dangerous to the public?
§ MR. FAWCETTI have carefully considered the hon. Member's Question, and I have come to the conclusion that it would be beyond the province of the Post Office to inquire into the circumstances under which wires not belonging to it have been erected, or to take any steps to ascertain the condition of such wires, except in so far as they may interfere with the due maintenance of the wires of the Department.