Another option is to use <SUBMIT METHOD=HEAD> to just get the headers, and then find the Last-Modified. Depending on what you are doing you might find <urlcp ifmodsince> useful.
Also, the <SUBMIT METHOD=HEAD> method is faster and more polite; a short-maxpgsize <fetch> still has to get some content, and then abruptly close the connection, probably generating an error in the remote server's error log.