§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Postmaster-General if he will say what is the total amount of guarantee he requires as a condition precedent to extending the telephone from Dublin to Mullingar, Athlone, and Galway; which of the local bodies to be served have consented to give their fair proportion of the guarantee; which of them have refused to do this; and will he inform the latter that a share in a joint guarantee is all that is required of them?
1120W
§ Mr. BUXTONThe total annual expenses of a trunk line from Dublin to Galway via Mullingar, Moate, and Athlone would be £465, and the maximum amount which the guarantors could be called upon to pay in any year would be one-third of this sum—namely, £155. The local authorities of Mullingar, Moate, Athlone, and Galway have been informed of the share of the-guarantee which would be proper to each of those towns. The Athlone Urban District Council have notified their willingness to bear their share, but no definite reply has been received from the other public bodies concerned.