QUESTION. (Hansard, 4 August 1887)

THE EARL OF MILLTOWN

said, he rose to call attention to an application which he had made in regard to the establishment of a telegraph station at a small country town in Ireland. That application was made in December last, at the earnest request of the inhabitants of the town; but he did not receive a reply to his communication until the 16th of June; he did not know whether this was the usual time which was taken to obtaining an answer from the Post Office the reply was to the effect that the request for the establishment of the station could not be complied with; and it staled that the decision in a case of this kind was not based on the size of the town or village to which it was proposed to extend the telegraph, but on whether it was estimated that the revenue would be sufficient to cover the working' expenses or not. In conclusion, he asked Her Majesty's Government, "What regulations were laid down by the Treasury for fixing the amount, if any, of guarantee which had to be given before the consent could be obtained for the establishment of an electric telegraph station?

§ THE PRIME MINISTER AND SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (The Marquess of SALISBURY)

, in reply, remarked that when the Treasury said they did not take into account the size of the town, he did not suppose they meant to say that they did not take into consideration the probable business of the town, for it was obvious that they could form no judgment on the subject without doing so. It appeared to him that their demands were of a very businesslike character. They required that the guarantee should cover the annual working expenses of the proposed office, the annual cost of maintaining the wire and the instruments, the interest on the outlay incurred in the erection of the telegraph, the recoupment of that outlay within seven years, and a margin of a certain per- 1126 centage for contingencies. This was to keep the Post Office from loss. If the Post Office saw that the business was likely to increase, and that it was worth while to speculate in the matter, no doubt it would be satisfied with a smaller guarantee. This was not a special Irish grievance, he hoped. He had himself suffered in a similar manner.