§ SIR DAVID WEDDERBURNasked the Postmaster General, Whether his attention has been directed to the delay attending the transmission of the Anglo-Italian Mails by the present route via Belgium and Germany, and to complaints that the minimum charge for a letter is sixpence, while the transit occupies a period varying from four to ten days; and, whether he can state what would be the cost and the time necessary for the transmission of letters from England to Italy if the direct route through France were to be resumed?
§ MR. MONSELL,in reply, said, he was sorry to be obliged to admit that the postal communication between this country and Italy was in a most unsatisfactory state. The present through rates for the conveyance of the Italian mails through France under the Convention were very high, and there was but one train daily from Paris to Italy. Her Majesty's Government, however, were negotiating with the French Government with the view of altering the transit rates, and securing an additional mail, and he hoped that before long some more satisfactory arrangement would be come to. At the present moment he was unable to say when such new arrangement would be made; but he had reason to believe that before very long the charge for the conveyance of a letter from England to Italy would be reduced to about 3d.