§ 27. Mr. W. BAKERasked the Postmaster-General Whether, in estimating the aggregate loss on the telegraph system since the date of the transfer of the telegraph service to the State, his Department has taken into account the value of the capital effects; and the estimated values of the buildings and plant at present in the possession of the telegraph section of his Department and the extent to which such effects can be set off against the estimated aggregate loss?
§ The POSTMASTER-GENERAL (Sir William Mitchell-Thomson)The figure of aggregate loss given to my hon. Friend the Member for Wimbledon (Sir J. Power), in my reply to his question of 11th May, was arrived at after allowing for the value of capital still represented by assets; in other words, it gave the cumulative net loss on capital account and operating account combined. The buildings sites and plant proper to the telegraph service stood in the books as at 31st March, 1926, at £8,700,000, but this sum cannot properly be set off against the estimated aggregate loss.