§ Viscount SANDONasked the Postmaster-General if the site adjoining the post office at Shrewsbury is to be used to its fullest capacity for the purposes of the automatic telephone apparatus; and is he aware that if it had been purchased by the Government, either at the present moment or a short time before it actually was, it would have been at a considerably smaller sum?
Mr. CHAMBERLAIN:The site will be used to its fullest capacity for the purposes of the proposed automatic telephone exchange, apart from the valuable front portion of the ground floor and basement which it is proposed to let as a shop. The information at my disposal does not confirm the suggestion made in the second part of the Noble Lord's question; in fact, I am advised that if the premises had not been purchased in 1921, it is improbable that they would now be available.