In November, 1893, Mr. Arnold Morley, Postmaster General, stated in the House of Commons that "the best estimate that can be formed by the officials at the Post Office points to the loss on the newspaper press telegrams being at least $1,500,000 a year; and it probably is still more."[112] In April, 1895, Mr. Arnold Morley, Postmaster General, repeated the foregoing statement, and "maintained it in spite of various statements to the contrary in the newspapers." He added: "and I should be quite willing to arrange for an impartial investigation such as is suggested by the Right Honorable Gentleman, if I were to receive satisfactory assurances that the press would abide by the result of an inquiry, and would undertake not to oppose the passage of the necessary legislation for a corresponding revision in the charges, if it should be shown that they are insufficient to provide for the cost of the service."[113] The assurances were not forthcoming; and the newspaper press tariff remained unchanged. In April, 1900, Mr. R. W. Hanbury, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and representative in the House of Commons of the Postmaster General, a member of the House of Lords, said: "The penny postage realizes an enormous revenue and brings in a profit, but every other part of the Post Office work is carried on at a loss. The whole profit is on the penny letter."[114] * * * * * [Sidenote: _Betting on Horse Races subsidized_] The Telegraph Act of 1868 provided that newspaper rates should be given to "the proprietor or occupier of any news room, club, or exchange room."[115] The clubs or exchange rooms in question are largely what we should term "pool-rooms," places maintained for the purpose of affording the public facilities for betting on horse races.[116] In 1876 Mr. Saunders, proprietor of the Central News Press Association, testified that his association would send in the course of a day to the same list of addressees the results of a number of races. The words in the several messages might not aggregate 75 words, and thus his association would be charged for the transmission of one message only. In that way a number of messages would be transmitted "gratuitously." Mr. Saunders added that, in 1875, the Post Office had transmitted gratuitously for his association 446,000 sporting messages. Mr. Patey, Third Clerk in the Post Office, added that while the Post Office received 4 cents for transmitting from 8 to 10 sporting messages, it had to make 8 to 10 separate deliveries, by messenger boy, on account of those messages which were counted as one; and that each such delivery cost the Post Office on an average two cents. Thus, on a recent date, the Post Office had delivered the results of the Lichfield races to 205 addressees by means of 1,640 separate deliveries, and had received for the service, on an average, one-half a cent per separate message.[117]