§ SIR EDWARD SASSOON (Hythe)To ask the Postmaster-General if he will state in what proportions the rate of 3s. per word charged for a telegram from London to Sydney, via the Pacific cable, is divided up; how much of this sum is payable to the British Post and Telegraph Department, the Atlantic Cable Company carrying the message, the land lines in North America, the Pacific Cable Account, and the Government of New South Wales, respectively; Whether such a message in its transit across North America passes only over Canadian land lines; or if, for a part of the way, land lines through the United States are employed, what proportion of the 3s. is paid for transit over these; will he say, further, whether the service indications on such messages are has charged for by the Atlantic Cable Companies; and, if so, what proportion of the cost does such charge amount to on a message of say five words from London to Sydney; and whether all unrouted messages from Great Britain and Ireland, destined for Australia, handed in at a Government telegraph office, are preferentially passed on to one of the pooled Atlantic Cable Companies; and, if so, to which.
(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) The sum of 3s. charged on a telegram from this country to Sydney is divided as follows:—Atlantic Cable Company, 8d; land lines in North America, 4d; Pacific Cable Board, 1s. 7d.; Australian Government, 5d. Out of the sum of 8d. accruing to the Atlantic Cable companies the Post Office is paid the ordinary inland rate in respect of such 313 telegrams as are dealt with at postal telegraph offices. In respect of telegrams dealt with entirely by the companies no payment is made to the Post Office beyond the rent which the companies pay for the use of their special wires. Under normal circumstances the transit of the Pacific Cable telegrams is affected only over Canadian territory. The Atlantic Cable Companies at present charge 1s. for the transmission in the service instructions of the date of a telegram and time of handing in, that is, one-fifteenth of the cost of a five-word telegram. All unrouted telegrams from this country to Australia handed in at postal telegraph offices are divided between the Anglo-American and direct United States Cable Companies and the Commercial Cable Company.