§ MR. JACOB BRIGHTasked the Postmaster General, Whether, by Letter dated 18th April 1883, addressed to the Lancashire and Cheshire Telephone Company, the Post Office consented to erect and maintain wires for telephonic communication between town and town for a guaranteed payment of £10 per mile per annum, and if in such Letter the Company were to be allowed to obtain as many 83 subscribers as they can for each wire, and to charge whatever annual rate they choose, so long as no favour or preference is shown—that is to say, so long as precisely the same rate is charged to every subscriber for the same use of a wire; whether, when the Company accepted the conditions and announced their intention of bearing the entire cost themselves and giving the advantages to the subscribers free of charge, the Department refused its assent to such an arrangement, and ultimately insisted upon the Company charging a minimum annual rental of 10s. per mile of distance between town and town, or, if the subscription was monthly, a minimum charge of 18s. per mile per annum; whether he is aware that, in the opinion of the Company, these rates are practically prohibitive; and, whether he will consider the advisability of so modifying them as to give to the people of Lancashire and Cheshire the advantages, which the Company are ready and willing to offer them, of being able to converse between town and town of the district on reasonable terms?
§ MR. FAWCETTI could not, without unduly encroaching on the time of the House, explain all the details of the Correspondence which has taken place between the Lancashire and Cheshire Telephone Company and the Post Office. I shall, however, be very glad to show the Correspondence to my hon. Friend, or any other Member who may be interested in the subject, if they will call at the Post Office. Although, as I said in a recent debate on the subject, I am most desirous that every facility should be afforded for telephonic communication, I do not think I am justified, with due regard to the interests of the public and of the Revenue, in making any modification in the terms to which the Department has recently agreed with regard to trunk wires.