§ MR. HENNIKER HEATON (Canterbury)I beg to ask the Postmaster General whether his Department has issued a Circular, inviting subscriptions to an Official Code Vocabulary for telegrams, which is to be issued by the International Telegraph Office at Berne, at 10s. per copy; whether the use of this Code is to be made compulsory for Code messages, and whether this Rule will deprive merchants and others of the power of sending a secret Code message; how many copies will be purchased by the British Post Office, and at what cost; and whether it can be arranged that the use of the new Code shall be at the discretion of persons wishing to dispatch messages?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. A. MORLEY, Nottingham, E.)The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The number of copies of the Vocabulary to be purchased by the British Post Office, the price to be paid for them, and the charge to the public will depend on the demand. The Official Vocabulary is intended to facilitate the transmission of secret Code messages; and its use will become compulsory for European Code messages three years after its publication.