§ MR. FLAVINI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, if he is aware that a great deal of public inconvenience is felt through the United Kingdom by the 616 way in which telegrams are placed on the Post Office counters before the general public during the time in which the words are being counted and the stamps affixed; whether a number of complaints have been made by senders of telegrams owing to insufficient secrecy; and whether some apartment could be supplied in telegraph offices for a better protection of the privacy of telegrams?
§ MR. HANBURYThe Postmaster General is not aware of the inconvenience to which the hon. Member refers, and he has not received a number of complaints on the subject. The way in which telegraph offices are now arranged for the reception of telegrams is the result of long practical experience, and regard is had to the question of privacy to which the Postmaster General attaches very great importance. He believes the existing arrangements to be, on the whole, conducive to the convenience of the public as well as to the efficient performance of the work; but he will make special inquiry and ascertain whether any further precautions are necessary.
§ MR. FLAVINIn putting this Question I had no wish to allege negligence on the part of Post Office officials in this matter. Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that in the Dublin Post Office small compartments are supplied where only one man at a time can hand in a telegram, and thus secrecy is secured?
§ MR. SPEAKEROrder, order!