MR. ARTHUR ARENOLD (for Mr. SLAGG)asked the Postmaster General, Whether, in all licences granted by him to Telephone Companies, he has restricted their operations to a radius varying from two to five miles from the centre of the respective towns; whether he is aware that, in the case of Manchester and Liverpool, this restriction excludes large numbers of suburban inhabitants who reside outside the licensed radius; whether he will consent, in the towns of Lancashire and Cheshire, to an extension of the radius to cover the residential area of each respective town, so as to include the suburban districts whose residents desire to be afforded facilities for immediate connection with their business houses; whether, when the licensed areas intersect each other, he will allow intercommunication between such areas; whether he is aware that the difficulty of the restricted radius is not met by permission in certain cases to extend wires outside the district under the ultra-radial agreement, inasmuch as not only do the Department insist upon an extra royalty of two and a half per cent, on the gross receipts from such wires, but, further, insist upon a separate wire being run from the residence of each individual subscriber the whole distance to the central exchange, instead of permitting local subscribers to be connected together, and afterwards connected with the central exchange by a single wire; whether he is aware that, although the latter condition adds nothing- to the revenue of the Post Office, it imposes heavy and unnecessary expen- 1233 diture on the Companies, and compels them to charge increased, and in many cases prohibitive, rates to the inhabitants of the outlying suburban districts, who otherwise would avail themselves of the advantages of the telephone system; and, whether he can see his way to such a reasonable extension of the radius, or other modification of the conditions, as will obviate the apparently vexatious impediments which are placed in the way of the use of the telephone in the suburban districts?
§ MR. FAWCETTTo reply to the series of seven Questions addressed to me by my hon. Friend would involve so many complicated details that I could not properly answer them without unduly encroaching on the time of the House. I am about to make a proposal which I hope will be thought fair and reasonable. I am frequently asked by the various Telephone Companies to modify in different respects the existing terms on which they carry on business. I am, therefore, about to propose that the Telephone Companies should meet and endeavour to come to an agreement as to the modifications of these terms, which, in their opinion, would meet the public requirements. Should they act on this suggestion and communicate the result to me in writing, their proposals shall at once be carefully considered with every desire to allow the greatest freedom possible to telephonic communication which is compatible with due protection of the interests of the Revenue.
§ MR. GRAYIf the suggestion of the right hon. Gentleman is adopted, and some propositions from the Telephone Companies should be laid before him, can he now give any undertaking that he will give a reply with sufficient promptitude to permit of the subject being discussed in the House in the event of 110 arrangement being arrived at? Otherwise, if a discussion should be raised, the right hon. Gentleman might say that the matter was under consideration, and that discussion was therefore premature.
§ MR. FAWCETTI cannot state the exact time within which I shall be able to announce the result of my proposition, as it is a very difficult and complicated subject; but I will give this assurance —I will do my utmost to come to a decision as soon after receiving the reply of the Telephone Companies as possible. 1234 It would be wrong of me to go further than that.