HC Deb 23 July 1914 vol 65 cc661-2W
Major ARCHER-SHEE

asked the Postmaster-General why no technical expert has been appointed on the committee to examine into the organisation of the telegraph service; whether he is aware that the heads of the telegraph services in Italy, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, and Bavaria are all engineers; that the telegraph service in Sweden is managed by a board of which an engineer is a member; and whether he can now add to the committee some engineer of repute and practical experience in telegraph work?

Mr. HOBHOUSE

The committee is concerned more particularly with the commercial aspects of the Telegraph Service, and in the circumstances I did not think it necessary to appoint a technical expert as one of its members. If the committee desires information on any technical point it can, of course, readily be obtained. I may add that a separate committee—mainly composed of technical experts—is at present considering the question of high speed telegraphy—the principal technical problem of the Telegraph Service.