§ MR. THOMAS BAYLEY (Derbyshire, Chesterfield)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he is aware that during the year 1901 the English Post Office laid a telephone cable between England and Belgium; that the cable was tested by the departmental engineers before being put down, but that when the wires were tested for the transmission of messages the whole cable was discovered to be defective and has been condemned; and whether the Postmaster General can state the amount of money expended in these operations.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThe facts are well known to the Postmaster General. The cable in question was not laid, for when a portion of it was put under strain on the cable ship, the faults in its construction were revealed. These faults could not have been discovered previously by the usual electrical tests. The cable was at once returned to the contractors who undertook to make an entirely new one without further charge.