In the meantime the National Telephone Company had been experiencing considerable difficulty in getting permission to lay underground wires in London. In 1892, the Telegraph act of that year authorized the Postmaster-General to grant to his licencees the same way-leave powers which he enjoyed, subject to the conditions that the licencees should not exercise such powers in London without the consent of the County Council, nor in any urban district outside London without the consent of the urban authority, nor elsewhere without the consent of the County Council. In pursuance of this authority the Postmaster-General, in the agreement of the 25th of March, 1896, undertook, at the request of the company, to authorize them to exercise his way-leave powers in any exchange area. The company did not apply for the exercise of such authority in London, but an attempt was made by them to obtain the consent of the London County Council to allow their wires to be placed underground, and the work proceeded with the permission of the local road authorities in London. Negotiations with the council were fruitless, largely on account of the price asked for way-leave and the demand for lower rates. The Postmaster-General was advised that it was his duty to see that the act of 1892 was enforced, and the resulting correspondence with the company having failed of any satisfactory result, an information in the name of the Attorney-General was filed against the company, asking for a declaration that they were not entitled to proceed with their underground works in London without the authority of the Postmaster-General and the consent of the County Council. An order to that effect was made on the 24th of July, 1900. This seemed a favourable opportunity for the Postmaster-General to secure from the company certain concessions with reference to their London exchange system as well as privileges for the subscribers of the postal exchanges which had been established in London and an agreement with reference to the purchase in 1911 by the Post Office of the company's London exchanges. These concessions and privileges were finally embodied in an agreement made on the 18th of November, 1901, by which the Postmaster-General agreed to furnish such underground wires on the demand of the company as he might think reasonable and likely to be useful to the Post Office later, as well as underground wires connecting the exchanges of the Post Office with those of the company. When the subscribers of the London Postal Exchanges exceeded 10,000 in number, the company agreed to pay half of the rent of the latter wires. No terminal charges were payable for a message passing over these wires, or for a message over the trunk lines between the subscribers of the Post Office in London and those outside London, or between subscribers of the company in London and those outside London. In addition, the Postmaster-General promised to afford to the company's subscribers in