§ MR. PENDERasked the Postmaster General, If his attention has been called to the inconvenience arising from the delay in the Mail Service in the North of Scotland, and to the following: That as the Contract held by Mr. Croall of Edinburgh, for carrying the Mails to and from Caithness by a stage coach, which was contingent on the opening of the new Railway, expired on Friday, and as the Post Office department have not come to terms with the Railway Companies, the counties of Caithness and Sutherland are at present practically without Mail Service; that the Mails from Wick and Thurso for the South were despatched by train as goods parcels on Saturday in charge of a Mail Guard, who having failed to provide himself with a passenger ticket, was turned out of the train at the Kildonan Station, and left behind with the Mail bags; that the Mail bags for the North arrived at Bonar Bridge Station on Saturday by the passenger train, but as the weighing of the bags as goods before passing on the Sutherland line occupied some time, the train started before the operation was completed, and the letters for the two Northern Counties, and Orkney as well, had to be delayed there; that the hour for closing the Mail bags at Wick has, for some considerable time, been 10 p.m., but on Saturday last a notice was posted up in the window of the Post Office that the Mail bags would be closed at 7, p.m., and that there would be no further despatch until 4.40 a.m. on Monday; and, if so, these inconveniences being of daily occurrence, the Postmaster General is prepared to secure the regularity of the correspondence by ordering a train at fixed hours from Bonar Bridge to Wick and Thurso, as is now done on the whole distance from London to Bonar Bridge?
§ MR. W. H. SMITH,for the Post master General, said:—The attention of the Department has been drawn to the delays and irregularities in the mail service in the North of Scotland; but the statements which have been made as to the intention of the Post Office to send these mails as goods parcels by railway are altogether incorrect. The Post Office has no such intention, but wishes to send these mails in the manner strictly prescribed by law, and to pay the railway companies such an amount for the service as may be settled by arbitration; or, if they prefer it, as may be fixed by the Railway Commissioners. The law requires railway companies to carry mails in the manner required without interposing any delay; but the directors have thought proper to direct that the bags shall be taken out of the train, letting the train go on while the bags are being weighed. The protests of the Post Office have had no effect, and it has been necessary to forward the bags by road, until an amicable arrangement can be made with the companies, or steps can be taken for carrying out the provisions of the law. The Postmaster General is not prepared to order a train at fixed hours from Bonar Bridge to Wick and Thurso, as an efficient and regular mail service can be maintained by means of the existing passenger trains.