§ MR. HENNIKER HEATON (Canterbury)I beg to ask the Postmaster General whether the Declaration between the Governments of England and France respecting Telegraphic Communication between the two countries, ratified on 30th March, 1889, was made subject to revision at the end of five years, that is, at the end of March next; whether the cost of the cable taken over from the late Submarine Cable Company, and of the new cable, has been covered by the profits derived from the service; whether he can state the gross earnings of the cables for each year since 1889; and whether he will open negotiations with the French Government for a reduction of the existing rate of 2d. per word to 1d., 1d. being the sum of the English and French inland rates together?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. A. MORLEY,) Nottingham, E.The answer to the first paragraph of the hon. Member's question is in the negative. As to the remaining paragraphs, I think it will, perhaps, be sufficient for me to say that, in the present condition of the telegraph revenue, I am not prepared to propose any reduction in the charge for telegrams between this country and France.
§ MR. HENNIKER HEATONI beg to ask the Postmaster General whether he can give the total number of cablegrams despatched to and received from the European Continent by the submarine cables in the course of last year, with the total sum paid in the United Kingdom for transmission; and whether he can distinguish between the traffic and receipts for each Continental country separately, as was done by the Submarine Cable Company, which was the owner of the cables before they were purchased by the Governments concerned?
§ MR. A. MORLEYNo, Sir. Some of the submarine cables between this country and the Continent of Europe are worked by private companies, and I have no knowledge of the total number of 1431 messages sent over those cables. With regard to the cables belonging to the Government, I think it would be contrary to the public interest to furnish the information desired by the hon. Member.
§ MR. HENNIKER HEATONI beg to ask the Postmaster General whether he has observed the comparison, in a leading article of The Times, of the rate of one halfpenny per word from London to Jersey, and 2d. per word from London to Boulogne or Calais; and whether he will agree to the appointment of a Select Committee to inquire into the cost and feasibility of establishing a common rate of 1d. per word over the entire territory of the United Kingdom and the French Republic and Belgium?
§ MR. A. MORLEYI am not aware of any recent article in The Times on the subject; but it is, of course, within my knowledge that whilst the charge for a telegram from London to Boulogne or Calais is 2d. a word, the charge to Jersey is a halfpenny a word, the Channel Islands having, by the Act 33 & 34 Vict., c. 88, been constituted part of the United Kingdom for telegraph purposes. My answer to the latter part of the hon. Member's question must be in the negative.