HC Deb 04 March 1901 vol 90 cc383-4
MR. BRYCE

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing † Refer to The Parliamentary Debates [Fourth Series], Vol. lxxxv., page 871. the Postmaster General, whether, under the provisions of the Post Office Acts, and particularly of the Post Office Guarantee Act, 1898, any parish is entitled to require the establishment within its limits of a telegraph office, if the parish council considers that it would be for the benefit of the parish to have such an office, and is prepared to furnish the guarantee required by those Acts.

MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN

The Post Office Guarantee Acts do not confer on a parish council the right to require the establishment of a telegraph office in the parish. They merely empower the, council to pay to the Postmaster General any loss he may sustain by reason of the establishment of such office. It is left to the Postmaster General to decide whether the office shall lie established, and I need hardly say that ho is always ready to give careful consideration to any case that may be brought before him.