§ 100. Mr. TOUCHEasked the Postmaster-General if he can explain why a telegram dispatched from London to Westcott, near Dorking, in Surrey, takes longer to reach Westcott than a passenger who travels from London to Dorking by a South-Eastern or Brighton line train and walks from Dorking to Westcott; is he aware that it has been found that reliance cannot be placed on telegrams dispatched shortly before a train starts from London directing a motor car to meet the passenger on arrival at Dorking station, as the telegrams take longer than the trains to get through; that on Saturday, 19th April, a telegram marked as having been handed in at Victoria, at 10.8 a.m., announcing that a passenger would arrive at Dorking station at 11.16, in order that a motor car might be in waiting, is marked as having reached Westcott post office at 11.40 a.m., having taken one hour and thirty-two minutes to transmit; and, in view of the delays on this line, will he inquire, whether the telegraph service to Westcott can be improved?
§ The POSTMASTER-GENERAL (Mr. Herbert Samuel)Telegrams from London to Westcott are normally sent to Dorking and thence to Westcott, but on the 19th instant there was an interruption in 542 electrical communication between London and Dorking, and telegrams from London for Dorking had to be diverted to Leather-head. The result was an accumulation of telegrams and unusual delay both in London and at Leatherhead. The telegram to which the hon. Member refers was one of the telegrams thus delayed. In normal circumstances the service to Westcott appears satisfactory.