§ MR. HOULDSWORTHasked the Postmaster General, If he is aware that press news is supplied to the Ellesmere, Russell, Central, and thirteen other clubs in Manchester; whether the Department have power, under the Acts of Parliament, to restrain the members of the said clubs from using telephonic communication for their own private business and affairs between these clubs; and, if he is prepared to withdraw the interdict issued by the Department, so far as applies to telephonic communication between clubs simultaneously supplied with the press news?
§ MR. FAWCETTIn reply to the hon. Member, I have to state that I am aware that Press news is supplied to the clubs he mentions, as well as others in Manchester. The question of the legality of telephonic communication between separate clubs is quite distinct from, that of the conditions regulating the supply of Press news. I have already indicated what the latter conditions are, in my reply to the hon. Member's Question of the 17th instant; and I feel that it would be inconvenient to enter upon a discussion of the legal position of the Post Office with regard to telephonic communication in reply to a Question.