§ LORD JOHN MANNERSsaid, he would beg to ask the Postmaster General, Why the Grantham mail bags for London are sent round by Nottingham and Derby at the risk of occasioning many hours' delay in the delivery of the letters, instead of being sent directly vià Peterborough?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON, in reply to the Question of the noble Lord, said, that the arrangement was adopted because it enabled the letters for London, together with those from the North-west of England and Scotland and Ireland, to be despatched together, and, while the despatch was sufficiently late for all ordinary purposes, it enabled the letters to be sorted before reaching London. There had been, he believed, two cases in which the night mail bags had been unable to reach London in time; but measures had been taken to prevent the recurrence of such a delay. Later despatch might, no doubt, be given by the train which left Grantham at twelve at night, but that was not a mail train, and the convenience to be obtained by such an arrangement would not be worth the expense it would be necessary to incur.