§ Mr. R. HARCOURTasked the Postmaster-General if he will state the total gross telegraphic revenue attributable to the counties of Fife, Forfarshire, Elgin, Nairn, Banffshire, Kincardineshire, and Aberdeenshire on the basis of the figures 1903W with regard to the cities of Aberdeen and Dundee alone which he gave to a deputation recently?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELI much regret that, owing to a mistake made by my officers at Edinburgh, the figures which were furnished to me and which I gave to a recent deputation with regard to the telegraph receipts at Aberdeen and Dundee were inaccurate. The £16,000 which I quoted is the gross telegraph revenue of the head offices only of those cities, whereas the correct figures are £19,800 for Aberdeen and £10,300 for Dundee. The corresponding figure for the whole of the seven counties named by the hon. Member is £61,300. But a large proportion of the traffic, especially between the outlying districts and those two cities, is local and the receipts cannot be set against the cost of underground cables on the main routes.