§ As amended, considered.
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. A. MORLEY,) Nottingham, E.1725 A Motion stands on the Paper in my name to insert in page 28, after Clause 40 of this Bill the following clause:—
Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to impose upon the Postmaster General the obligation of transmitting, under the provisions of 'The Telegraph Act, 1868,' or any agreement between the Postmaster General and the Company made in pursuance thereof, any larger number of telegraphic messages of the Company free of charge than he would have been bound to transmit had this Act not become law.The clause, as you will see, is one to prevent the extension of what are called the free messages privileges. The Directors of the Company have agreed to the arrangement that has been provisionally entered into with the Post Office and the General Manager of the Company by which a commutation of the privilege has been agreed to, and which will be, I think, an arrangement that will be satisfactory to the Company and certainly also to the Post Office. It will not, therefore, be necessary for me to move the clause, and perhaps I may be justified in saying that the Post Office has come to terms with many of the principal Railway Companies both in England and Scotland. In England we have arranged with the Midland; the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire; and the London and South-Western Companies; and in Scotland, with the Highland and the North British Companies. To-day I have received a communication from the Great Northern Company, stating that they are willing to come to terms on a similar arrangement by which these free messages privileges will be commuted. I trust the other companies will shortly come to an arrangement in the same way.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Bill be now read the third time."
§ Motion agreed to.