§ COLONEL STOPFORD-SACKVILLEI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he can state on what basis the calculations are founded which operate to prevent the extension of telegraph offices except under guarantee; when were the Treasury regulations last revised, and can he give the number of telegraph guarantees now existing in England and Wales, distinguishing between those by private individuals and those by district and parish councils or meetings.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINIn the case of villages where it is estimated 289 that the revenue to be derived from telegrams will cover the expenses there is generally speaking nothing to prevent the extension of the telegraphs. It is only where the estimated revenue is not sufficient that a guarantee is required. The amount of the guarantee is made up of a charge for interest on the cost of constructing the line, the annual cost for maintenance, and the payments to the sub-postmaster. The regulations were last revised in 1897, on the occasion of Her late Majesty's Diamond Jubilee, and the State then undertook for the first time to bear half the risk of every guarantee.