§ Sir E. FINDLAYasked the Postmaster-General (1) whether he is aware that the pavements in Aberlour, recently broken up for the purpose of laying a telephone cable, are the property of the house owners; and whether their permission was asked before the cable was laid;
(2) whether the permission granted to his Department by the Banffshire County Council to lay a telephone cable along the side of the main street in Aberlour entitled the department to lay he cable in the centre of the pavement, which is within the feus of the house owners and which was resurfaced at the expense of these householders?
§ Major TRYONThe special interest of the frontagers in the cost of resurfacing pavements is appreciated by my Department; but this interest is safeguarded by statutory provisions, for the Post Office must at its own cost restore the pavement to a condition as good as that in which it was found, and must maintain it in good repair for six months after restoration. Accordingly, it is the practice of my Department to proceed with cable laying in adopted roads as soon as the consent of the competent local authority has been obtained, and not to seek the consents of individual frontagers. The latter course could not increase the protection already afforded to the frontagers by the statutory provision above-mentioned, and would delay the provision of much-needed telephone circuits.