§ Mr. BROTHERTONasked the Postmaster-General whether, in view of trunk telephone calls being at present only three minutes, he can see his way to increase the time to five minutes?
§ Mr. BUXTONExperience in this country and in nearly all other countries, has shown that a period of three minutes is the most convenient unit for conversations on telephone trunk lines. A unit of five minutes would involve a higher charge, and would reduce the useful traffic capacity of costly lines. In the United States the five minutes' period formerly in force for long distance conversations has been universally given up for one of three minutes.