§ SIR EDWARD SASSOONI beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for India if the telegraph land line from Kerman, through Beluchistan to Kalat and Quetta is yet completed, and if on such completion it will be possible to send a telegram by land wires alone from any Continental town, say Calais, to any part of India, Assam, or Burmah; and, in the case of a message sent from 66 Calais to Rangoon, would he state the cost of such message, and the amount of the terminal tax at each end, as well as the transit tax payable according to the rules of the International Telegraph Convention to each intervening State on the normal route.
§ MR. BUCHANANA telegraph land line from Teheran, via Kerman, Robat, and Indian Baluchistan, to Karachi, was opened for traffic in November, 1907, as an alternative and additional line to the one from Teheran, via Bushire and the Persian Gulf, to Karachi. The cost of a message sent from Calais to Rangoon, which passes over either of these lines, is 2.50 francs per word. According to Table B of the International Telegraph Convention the terminal tax per word on such a message would be 0.15 francs for France and 0.35 francs for India. The transit taxes payable would be 0.20 francs for Germany, 1.13 francs for Russia, 0.44 francs for Persia, and 0.68 francs for the Persian Gulf. The total of these conventional rates would amount to 2.95 francs. The lower through rate accepted of 2.50 francs per word has been brought about by arrangement between the Administrations concerned.