§ MR. CRAWFORDsaid, he wished to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether the sums, amounting in the whole to £27,643, stated in a Return dated 7th December, 1867 (Parliamentary Paper, No. 68, of the present Session), to be the estimated receipts in respect of the Eastern Mail Services outwards and inwards for four weeks, are calculated at the rates of postage in force at the time when the Return was made up, or at the present increased rates; and, in the former case, what may be the sum by which the Estimate of £27,643 may be expected to be augmented by reason of the increased charge; whether the sums receivable in India or elsewhere out of the United Kingdom are included in the estimate in question, so as to come in further diminution of the sum which may be voted for the conveyance of the Eastern Mails; and, whether an exact account is kept of the postages received or chargeable in respect of the said Services?
§ MR. SCLATER-BOOTHreplied, that the receipts were calculated on the rates in force at the time when the Return was made up. If the increased rates now in force had been taken into consideration, there ought to have been an increase in the estimate of £2,900 per month. The whole of the sums receivable in India, as well as elsewhere, were taken into account in this estimate, and a separate account of the outward and inward postage was kept.