§ Mr. MIDDLETONasked the Postmaster-General whether, seeing that it is the policy of his Department to encourage telephone subscribers to send telegrams by telephone, he will state whether in such cases the senders are charged telephone fees in addition to the cost of the telegram; and, if so, whether he will take steps to discontinue charging telephone fees to the senders of telegrams?
§ Mr. LEES-SMITHA telephone fee as for a local call is charged in addition to the charge for the telegram. The proportion of telegrams sent by telephone is steadily growing, and this indicates that the general body of subscribers regards the facility as being worth the small extra cost. I regret that I do not see my way to incur the loss of revenue involved in the waiving of the telephone fee.