§ SIR EDWARD SASSOONI bog to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he is aware that a considerable grievance exists among the commercial communities, notably in Liverpool, in consequence of the regulation requiring the transmission to their destination of cable messages received from America through the Post Office, and that this system necessarily involves delay and waste of time, entailing the loss of transactions, especially in cases where the messages are received about the closing hours of business; and if he would undertake so to modify this regulation as to permit the cable companies themselves to send the messages through the telephone direct to their destination, in view of the boon to the trading communities, the saving of Post Office labour, and the ease with which the number and cost of all such telephonic messages could be checked by a system of daily supervision of the accounts of the telephone company.
§ MR. HANBURYArrangements have already been made at Liverpool for telephoning the American cable messages direct to subscribers of the National Telephone Company from the Exchange Branch Post Office, which immediately adjoins the offices of the cable companies. The suggestion made by the hon. Member would involve a modification of the terms of the National Telephone Company's licence, and it is obviously undesirable to take such a step to meet a limited local requirement.