§ Mr. LESLIE SCOTTasked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that upon his inquiries last March into the conditions of telegraphic communication between London and Liverpool there was for a time a marked improvement, but that latterly there has been a recurrence of frequent delays between the London Com- 177 mercial Sales Rooms and Liverpool, particularly in the opening business hours of the day when celerity of communication is of urgent importance for the effecting of sales and purchases; and whether he will at once and at somewhat short intervals in the future repeat his departmental inquiries which, on the last occasion, produced good results and, if necessary, provide additional lines or instruments?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELThe delays which the hon. Member now mentions were, I believe, due to interruptions of the wire and temporary failures of apparatus—contingencies which I fear are bound to occur sometimes in any telegraph service. As the hon. Member knows, the merchants dealing at the Commercial Sales Rooms enjoy the 'advantage of the assignment to their use of a special wire, so that their telegrams need not pass through the Central Telegraph Office. But that very advantage is liable at times to turn to disadvantage, because there is no case for more than one wire at the Commercial Sale Room, and it is not possible to counteract the effect of failure of wire, at a moment's notice, by distributing the work over other wires. I am fully aware of the great importance of maintaining a prompt service to those for whom the hon. Member speaks, and no pains are spared to that end.
§ Mr. LESLIE SCOTTasked the Postmaster-General whether he will publish quarterly returns which will enable the public to judge of the telegraphic facilities afforded between the principal commercial centres of the United Kingdom, stating in such returns what in his opinion is a reasonable time for the transmission of a telegram between each couple of commercial centres during the busy hours of the morning, the percentage of telegrams delivered under that time, the percentage which took double that time, and so on, giving sufficient information to enable this House to form an opinion as to whether the service has been satisfactory or not and whether additional facilities ought to be afforded?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELI fear that it would be quite impracticable to publish such returns. The telegraphic facilities between different centres are constantly varied—even from hour to hour—as the work fluctuates. To record the time taken by all telegrams between the centres 178 would entail a great amount of labour and expense which would not be justified by the result.