§ Mr. LESLIE SCOTTasked the Postmaster-General if he has considered a resolution passed by the Associated Chambers of Commerce on the 16th instant urging him to adopt, in connection with Continental telegraphy, a system of urgent telegrams for extra payment; whether he will inform the House what steps have been taken since June, 1909, to improve telegraphic communication with the principal commercial centres of the Continent; what further steps he now proposes to take; and whether he will adopt the system of urgent telegrams advocated in the resolution?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELI will give full consideration to the resolution in question, which as yet I have only seen in the public Press. Since June, 1909, multiplex apparatus similar to that previously in use in the French and Swiss circuits has been introduced into the Netherlands circuits; and experiments are in progress with a view to a further extension in the use of such apparatus, especially over the longer cables between England and Germany. This presents certain technical difficulties, which my officers are endeavouring to surmount in concert with the officers of the German administration. The question of giving additional facilities for urgent telegrams in return for extra payments has been for some time under my consideration. Difficulties arise through the necessity of avoiding the imposition of delay on other telegrams paid for at existing rates. But the proposal will not be lost sight of.
§ Mr. LESLIE SCOTTDoes the right hon. Gentleman know that at the present time it is possible to telegraph to New York from Liverpool and get an answer within three or four minutes, whereas it takes four hours to telegraph one way from London to Marseilles; and that from 1796 Havre you can telegraph to London viâ New York, in ten minutes, while it takes one and a-half hours to send from London to Havre by direct route?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELI am not prepared to accept the figures without investigation; but I know it is the case that during the hours when the London and New York Stock Exchanges are not open at the same time it is very easy to get extraordinarily rapid communication between Europe and New York and back again.
§ Mr. LESLIE SCOTTDoes the right hon. Gentleman know that telegrams to the Cotton Exchange at Liverpool go backwards and forwards within three minutes at the opening of the New York market?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELI am very glad indeed that should be so.
§ Mr. LESLIE SCOTTDoes the right hon. Gentleman know——
§ Mr. SPEAKERThere are other ways of imparting information to the Postmaster-General.