§ MR. LONGFIELDsaid, he wished to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether, having regard to the Estimate for the Post Office Packet Service for the year 1861–2, it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government to Discontinue the additional Mail monthly to and from China, and whether any notice has been given to Her Majesty's Postmaster General to that effect; and, if so, to state what has been the expense to the Public of this fortnightly Mail, giving credit for the sums received for Postage of Letters thereby?
MR. PEELsaid, that the second monthly mail to China was a service that had been voluntarily performed by the company since 1857. At the close of last year and also in the year preceding the company applied to the Government for remuneration for that additional mail service, and rather than submit to the inconvenience of its sudden discontinuance the Treasury consented to pay a subsidy of £2,000 for the double voyage for a period of six months from the commencement of the present year. Notice had been given to the Postmaster General that at the expiration of that six months the subsidy would cease. The cost of the subsidy for that fortnightly mail would be at the rate of £24,000 per annum. The sea postage for the whole way from this country upon letters conveyed by the second mail to China was about £12,000 a year.