§ MR. M'LAGAN (Linlithgow)asked the Postmaster General, Whether a train, known as the newspaper train, which conveyed mails and newspapers to London and other parts of England from Edinburgh and Glasgow, leaving those cities at 6 o'clock in the morning, has been stopped, because of the refusal of the Post Office to make a small payment, which would have enabled the train to be continued; and, whether, the train being stopped, there is any Mail Service which enables letters posted early in the morning in Scotland to be delivered the same day in London?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. RAIKES) (Cambridge University)A train leaving Edinburgh and Glasgow for the South at 6 a.m., which I believe was largely employed by the newspaper 263 publishers for the conveyance of their train parcels, and by which mail bags were also forwarded, was not long since discontinued; and it is the case that the Government was not prepared to make such a payment in respect to the mail service as would have secured the continuance of the train. The train in question left Edinburgh and Glasgow too early to be generally available for letters posted early in the morning, and its chief utility was in conveying letters posted during the night. There is no train now running by which the same facilities can be afforded.