§ Viscount WOLMERasked the Postmaster-General whether it is his intention, after 31st December, 1911, to bring all telephone users under the new tariff known as the measured rate system; and, if so, whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that such an alteration would, in the opinion of the Association of Chambers of Commerce in the united Kingdom, mean a heavy tax on commerce and industry in this country?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELThe suggestion in the first part of the question is based upon a misapprehension. No definite decision as to the future charges for telephone service can be properly arrived at until after the arbitration for the settlement of the price to be paid for the National Telephone Company's system. I am shortly to receive deputations from various bodies interested in this question, and shall give their representations all due weight.