§ SIR JOSEPH DIMSDALE (London)To ask the Postmaster-General whether, setting aside the questions of maintenance of the plant and the expansion of the system, the Government obtained any estimate of the probable cost of acquiring the undertaking of the National Telephone Company before entering into the provisional agreement; if so, what is the amount of any such estimate; and whether he will reconsider his decision not to enlarge the terms of the reference to the Select Committee.
(Answered by Lord Stanley.) An estimate of the cost of acquiring the National Telephone Company's undertaking in 1911 on the conditions proposed in the provisional agreement would be of no practical value at the present time if the questions of the maintenance and of the expansion of the system in the interval were not taken into account, and I did not obtain such an estimate. I see no necessity for enlarging the terms of reference.