46. Mr. MALONEasked the Prime Minister whether the proposals contained in the Imperial Telegraphs Bill and the scheme outlined in the Report of the Imperial Wireless and Cable Conference, 1928, Cmd. 3163, have been considered by or approved by the Committee of Imperial Defence?
§ The PRIME MINISTER (Mr. Baldwin)The strategical aspect of this question was examined by the Committee of Imperial Defence, and its recommendations on the subject were placed before the Imperial Wireless and Cables Conference. The Report of this Conference is in accord with the recommendations of the Committee of Imperial Defence on the defence aspects of the question.
§ 73. Mr. WALTER BAKERasked the Postmaster-General the number of naval and military officers and the number of Post Office servants employed on the work of censoring wireless messages and cablegrams during the War, and the grounds on which the decision to remove the censorship from the offices of the cable companies to the Central Telegraph Office was taken?
§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the WAR OFFICE (Mr. Duff Cooper)I have been asked to reply. So far as the censoring of cablegrams is concerned, the number of military officers and Post Office employés employed on the work in the middle of 1918 was 203 and 226, respectively. The only case in which censorship was removed from a cable company's offices to the Central Telegraph Office during the War was that of the 1393 Great Northern Telegraph Company. I am not aware of the reasons which governed the decision in this isolated case. The censorship of wireless messages was under the control of the Admiralty, from whom I understand that the information asked for is not readily available.
§ 74. Mr. BAKERasked the Postmaster-General whether, and in what way, the contract with the Communications Company will secure that the company does not abandon or allow to depreciate parts of the cable and wireless services whose maintenance is required in the national interest in the event of war?
§ The ASSISTANT POSTMASTER-GENERAL (Viscount Wolmer)A Clause on this subject will be inserted in the Agreement, but the exact terms of the Clause have not yet been settled.