§ MR. CAMERONasked the Postmaster General, If he has come to any fresh arrangement with the "Highland" and the "Dingwall and Skye" Railway Companies for the conveyance of Mails between Perth and Inverness, and to the north and west of the latter place, by which the postal communications in that part of the United Kingdom will be improved, and effect given to the wishes of a deputation which lately waited on him to confer on this subject; and, if so, whether he will be good enough to state the nature and extent of such improved service?
§ MR. MONSELLSir, as the negotiations with all the railway companies are not completed, I cannot give a full answer to my hon. Friend's Question. I may inform him, however, that arrangements have been made with the Highland Railway Company to maintain the present postal communications. The company found it impossible to increase the speed of the mail train. Its rate is 27 miles an hour, which I believe is greater than that of any other single-line railway in the United Kingdom. The Dingwall and Skye Railway have refused to convey the mails under charge of a train guard. Much more important mails, including bags for Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and Brighton, are conveyed over thousands of miles in this way, and the Law Officers of the Crown in Scotland have declared our demand to have them so conveyed to be strictly legal, and are proceeding to enforce it. In the meantime, to preserve the public from inconvenience, I have directed that the mails shall be sent by the railway, paying under protest such rates as the company may demand.