§ Mr. NIELDasked the Postmaster-General whether, having regard to the fact that there are in existence and in operation a number of agreements which were entered into between the Lee Conservancy Board and the National Telephone Company providing for the payment by the company of acknowledgements for way-leaves for telephone wires and poles on the Lee Navigation, he proposes to insist upon the right which he claims to possess to avoid such contracts and to treat such telephone wires and poles as coming within the definition of telegraphs; and whether he refused any longer to pay the agreed sums provided for in such contracts?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELI am advised that the wayleave agreements made between the Lee Conservancy Board and the National Telephone Company are not binding upon me, and that the agreement1526W of 1906 between the Board and the Post Office covers the wires which I have acquired from the company as if they had been erected by my officers in the first instance. It has been decided in the courts that a "telephone" is a "telegraph" within the meaning of the Telegraph Acts.