§ MR. CLAUDE HAY (Shoreditch, Hoxton)To ask the Postmaster General whether, in view of his decision to employ the telephone service at the Savings Bank Department, Kensington, in preference to the telegraphs, he will explain why the telegraph apparatus has been used since this decision was made known; and whether he will state the number of telegrams sent from the Savings Bank to the Central Telegraph Office from 8th April to 16th April, inclusive.
(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) It became necessary, owing to the pressure of work, to supplement the telephonic communication between the Savings Bank and the Central Telegraph Office by Wheatstone telegraphic apparatus on the Saturday before Easter and the
† See (4) Debates, cxviii., 1099.212 following Tuesday. It will be necessary to do this probably on a few other days in the year. The number of telegrams sent from the Savings Bank to the Central Telegraph Office from the 14th to the 16th April, inclusive, was 3,248, and there were 3,452 in the opposite direction. The transfer to the new buildings was not completed until the 14th, so that I only give the figures from that date inclusive.