§ Sir J. D. REESasked the Postmaster-General whether the Government proposes 1014W to take no action for the relief of the mercantile community, whose cable bills are at present trebled, quadrupled, and even quintupled, owing to war regulations; whether the regulations cannot be made applicable or not as firms and individuals are or are not of known and recognised standing and nationality; and whether steps can be taken to ensure the delivery of the cablegrams and their despatch without undue delay?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEAs I stated yesterday in reply to the hon. Member for Bolton, I am in communication with the cable companies, and I hope very shortly to arrive at an arrangement which will substantially reduce cable charges to countries outside the European system. The question of allowing the use of abbreviated addresses in certain cases is also being closely considered by the military authorities, who are responsible for the cable censorship. As regards the question of delay, some of the more important cables are heavily pressed with traffic, and this necessarily involves delay; but so far as the censorship itself is concerned, steps have been taken to reduce delay to a minimum.