HC Deb 05 February 1856 vol 140 cc221-2
MR. VINCENT SCULLY

said, he begged to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether there had been any contract or correspondence with the Treasury, or any Treasury Minute, with the view to improve the postal and passenger communication between England and Ireland, under the Act of last Session authorising arrangements for that purpose; and whether there was any objection to produce such documents?

MR. WILSON

said, the House would probably recollect that towards the end of the last Session a private Bill had been passed to enable the Chester and Holyhead Steam Packet Company and the North Western and Chester and Holyhead Railway Companies to be incorporated, and to make one service from London to Dublin. That Bill was not, however, to take effect until a satisfactory arrangement had been come to with the Post Office in respect to the conveyance of Her Majesty's mails. The measure had been considered during the recess, and in the mouth of October last it was arranged that for the future there should be one day mail and one night mail, instead of the two existing night mails, between London and Dublin, and that the service should be performed in eleven hours at the least, so that the mails and passengers arriving from London in Dublin, and from Dublin in London, could be forwarded, without delay, to the provinces. What had been done was this—the memorial to the Government had been referred to the Irish Government and to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, in order to ascertain whether the proposed changes would suit the convenience of the trade and passenger traffic of Ireland. A deputation from the Dublin Chamber of Commerce waited upon the Government in London last week, and all the particulars had been arranged so far as the Government and the Dublin Chamber of Commerce were concerned. The Government were now ready to accept tenders for the carrying of the mail in conformity with the plan arranged with the Dublin Chamber of Commerce.

MR. VINCENT SCULLY

said, he would move for a copy of the Treasury Minute on the subject.