HC Deb 12 February 1857 vol 144 cc529-30
MR. GROGAN

said, he would beg to ask the hon. Gentleman the Secretary of the Treasury in what position the question of Postal Communication between London and Dublin stood?

MR. WILSON

said, he was not at all surprised that considerable anxiety should exist upon the subject of the hon. Member's question. A Committee which had been appointed by that House for the purpose of investigating the subject in 1853, had taken the evidence of a number of Gentlemen in whose judgment, accuracy, and discretion the House could not fail to place reliance, but when that evidence came to be tested by endeavours to act practically upon it, the Government found that the views expressed by those witnesses had been exaggerated, and that it would be most difficult to come to any arrangement based upon them. It was quite clear that no advantage could be gained in facilitating the communication between Dublin and London unless it could be so arranged that letters leaving London in the morning could be conveyed to Dublin in time to be transmitted to the Irish provinces that evening; and that letters leaving in the evening should be able to be so forwarded the following morning. The period of time in which the transit was to be made was very short, but the evidence which had been given before the Committee tended to show the feasibility of such a scheme of communication, and it had been the endeavour of the Government to carry it out; but he was sorry to say without success. They were at present, however, considering a variety of modifications of the original plan, and it was only just towards the railway and steam-packet companies to state that they had exhibited the utmost readiness to meet the wishes of the Government in the matter, who, so far as they were concerned, were prepared to pay liberally for the performance of the required service. Under these circumstances, he hoped to be able in the course of a very short time to inform the House that such a modified plan had been decided upon as would place the communication between England and Ireland upon a better footing.