§ Mr. PIRIEasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in the allocation of public money for national development of postal or other services as between England and Scotland, any account is taken of proportionate expenditure in the two countries, and in view of the fact that of a capital account expenditure on underground telegraph lines of £2,100,000, only about one-ninth, or. judging of expenditure by mileage, £233,000 has been spent 999W in Scotland, he will grant a larger sum in this year's Post Office Estimates to bring this necessary work to a completion in Scotland; and if he or his Department has received any representation from present or past Secretaries of Scotland as to the disadvantages under which Scotland suffers under existing conditions?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEAny representations made by the Post Office as to the provision for underground telegraph lines in Scotland in the Estimates for 1913–14 will receive careful attention. But the governing consideration must be the requirements of the public service as a whole; and the principle of proportionate expenditure in the two countries cannot be admitted as applicable.