§ MR. MATHER (Lancashire, S.E., Gorton)I beg to ask the Postmaster General whether, in view of the great commercial importance of the question of telephonic communication generally, he will inform the House when licences will be granted by him to companies which have established telephonic exchanges in many localities throughout the country, and which are now inactive in consequence of the delay arising out of the withholding of such licences by him; and whether he is aware that in the township of Denton, near Manchester, which is a district isolated from that 1445 city, all necessary apparatus for a telephonic exchange has been for some time erected, and that the subscribers are anxiously waiting for the opening of the local exchange, which the solicitor to the Post Office has prohibited until the licence has been granted?
§ SIR J. FERGUSSONI am about to state to the House the policy which Her Majesty's Government proposes to pursue on the whole question of telephonic communication. Any companies which have established exchanges without licence—and, therefore, in contravention of the law, as explained in a well-known judgment of the High Court—are in a false position; but I will give consideration to the case of Denton.
§ MR. MATHERThe statement the right hon. Gentleman has already made applies to the first part of my question, but I would still ask whether he could grant provisional licences in districts where exchanges have been established and all appliances provided until the passing of the Bill which he has foreshadowed?
§ SIR J. FERGUSSONIt would be quite competent to grant licences to such places, but every case must be judged of on its own merits; and to the case of Denton, to which the hon. Member refers, I will give early consideration.