§ SIR THOMAS DEWAR (Tower Hamlets, St. George's)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the report of the inquiry into the cause of the telephone fires at the Mansion House Chambers and Oxford Court, Cannon Street, which disclosed the fact that the fires broke out simultaneously through a telephone cable coming into contact with a high tension current; and, in view of expert evidence as to the danger of such currents being in proximity to telephone cables 280 will he consider the expediency of appointing a Committee to inquire into the subject of telephone risks and their prevention.
§ MR. AKERS-DOUGLASMy attention has been called to this matter by a report made to me by the coroner for the City of London, and I have also consulted the authorities of the General Post Office. I understand that the question of preventing the occurrence of similar fires in the future raises no problems of special difficulty. The expert advisers of the General Post Office, and also, I do not doubt, those of the National Telephone Company, constantly keep in view the prevention of risks arising from the laying of telephone cables, and in these circumstances I agree with the coroner's jury in thinking that it is not necessary to hold a Government inquiry.