diff --git a/liboctave/util/url-transfer.cc b/liboctave/util/url-transfer.cc
index 68a49127e2..a59490d5fb 100644
--- a/liboctave/util/url-transfer.cc
+++ b/liboctave/util/url-transfer.cc
@@ -746,7 +746,8 @@ class curl_transfer : public base_url_transfer
 
     set_header_fields (options.HeaderFields);
 
-    SETOPT (CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, options.Timeout);
+    SETOPT (CURLOPT_TIMEOUT_MS, options.Timeout);
+    SETOPT (CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT_MS, options.Timeout);
 
     if (! options.UserAgent.empty ())
       SETOPT (CURLOPT_USERAGENT, options.UserAgent.c_str ());
diff --git a/scripts/web/webread.m b/scripts/web/webread.m
index 5492216cab..a1e0caedc7 100644
--- a/scripts/web/webread.m
+++ b/scripts/web/webread.m
@@ -86,14 +86,14 @@
 
   ## Flatten the cell array because the internal processing takes place on
   ## a flattened array.
-  options.HeaderFields = options.HeaderFields(:)';
+  options.HeaderFields = options.HeaderFields(:).';
 
   nargs = 1 + numel (varargin);
   if (nargs == 1)
     response = __restful_service__ (url, cell (), options);
   elseif (rem (nargs, 2) == 1)
     if (! iscellstr (varargin))
-      error ("webwrite: KEYS and VALUES must be strings");
+      error ("webread: KEYS and VALUES must be strings");
     else
       response = __restful_service__ (url, varargin, options);
     endif