62. EARL of RONALDSHAYasked the Postmaster-General if his attention has been called to the fact that the address of Messrs. P. T. George and Son, of 23, Wormwood Street, E.C., was incorrectly entered in the January edition of the London Telephone Directory as 23, Welbeck Street; is he aware that as a result of this error Messrs. George and Son have suffered substantial pecuniary loss; will he say if his Department are responsible for the error and how it arose; and, if so, does he propose to grant Messrs. George any compensation for the losses which they have incurred?
§ The POSTMASTER-GENERAL (Mr. Herbert Samuel)The address of the firm was incorrectly entered in the January Directory owing to the misunderstanding of some verbal instructions given by them. The mistake was corrected in the July edition. The name of the firm and the exchange number were given correctly, and it seems improbable that serious difficulty arose in connection with telephone calls. Their chief complaint was that letters were incorrectly addressed. The insertion of addresses in telephone directories is, however, to assist in the identification of subscribers for telephone calls, and not for other purposes, but in any case I have no power to admit claims for consequential damages. Special steps were taken to ensure that both telephone calls and letters should reach the firm.