§ MR. HENNIKER HEATON (Canterbury)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether he has made any fresh agreement with the Eastern Telegraph Company, or with the Indo-European Telegraph Company in connection with the recent reduction of telegraph rates to India; whether he will 1268 give an assurance that no agreement or re-arrangement of agreements with the Indo-European or Eastern Telegraph Companies shall be made until after the House of Commons has had an opportunity of examining and discussing the full and final Report of the Departmental Committee.
§ LORD G. HAMILTONNo fresh agreement has been entered into with the Eastern and Indo-European Telegraph Companies in connection with the recent reduction of rates to India. But I have already stated, in reply to a question in this House, that it is not proposed to interrupt or delay the negotiations now in progress with regard to a date for the determination of the Joint Purse Agreement and of the Australian Message Fund.