HC Deb 09 July 1897 vol 50 c1473
MR. D. MACALEESE (Monaghan, N.)

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether no direct telegraphic communication exists between the North of Ireland and the two important centres of Oxford and Cambridge; has complaint been made to the Department that messages recently sent from these places took two hours to reach Belfast; and will a remedy he provided for this?

*MR. HANBURY

The answer to the first two Questions is in the affirmative. The messages referred to by the hon. Member were multiple press telegrams of some length, and in view of the pressure of business at the time, the delay which occurred seems to have been unavoidable. The number of telegrams between Oxford and Cambridge and the North of Ireland is not sufficient to justify the establishment of direct telegraphic communication.