In the House of Commons on Thursday, Mr. Hobhouse made
his first annual statement as Postmaster-General. He foreshadowed a large development of the telephone system, including the introduction of automatic exchanges and sub- scribers' meters. The telegraph service, he said, was carried on at an annual lose of £350,000, owing mainly to the six- penny telegram, which costs Ild. to transmit and deliver. But he thought it possible that much of the unremunera- tire telegraph work would be absorbed in the ex- panding telephone service. He proposed to spend 2750,000 in London and £1,650,000 in the provinces on the development of the telephones. He also gave an account of what has been done towards providing the Imperial "wireless chain." He regretted that there was not enough competition with the Marconi Company. He was still awaiting a satisfactory demonstration of the capacity of the Poulaen system to send commercial messages. Another subject dealt with was the Report of the Holt Committee on the wages and conditions of postal servants. The subsequent debate was almost entirely confined to this very important subject, with which we hope to deal fully next week.
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