§ Major-General Sir NEWTON MOOREasked the Postmaster-General if he is aware that cablegrams of urgent commercial importance for Australasia and the East, paid for and accepted at full rates, have been subjected to extraordinary delays, and that in many instances, without advice to the sender, the cable companies have dispatched such cables by post to the Mediterranean, thence to be transmitted; and what action has the Government taken to remedy this state of affairs and prevent a repetition of these delays, so disastrous to business in a critical period?
§ Mr. ILLINGWORTHI would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on the 13th instant to a question on this subject by the hon. Member for North Salford. Owing to the interruption of certain important cables starting from this country it was necessary some weeks ago to send1814W some of the telegrams for Australasia and the East by post to the Mediterranean for onward transmission by telegraph, but the cables have now been repaired, and the posting of messages has ceased.