§ MR. STEVENSONsaid, he would beg to ask the Postmaster General, Why the West Indian Mails are not dispatched on fixed days of the week, such as the first and third Thursdays of the month, so as to avoid the great inconvenience of the present arrangement under which the Inward Letters sometimes arrive on the day of the departure of the Outward Mail?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONsaid, in reply, that the West India Mails could not be despatched on a fixed day except by substituting a fortnightly service for a bi-monthly one, and that could only be done at a considerably increased expense. The plan of the hon. Member for dispatching them on the first and third Thursday in the month would not answer, because an inconvenient interval would frequently be caused by the dispatch of these two mails. In the course of the present year there would be three cases in which three weeks would have elapsed between the third Thursday in one month and the first Thursday in the next.