HC Deb 30 June 1874 vol 220 c698
MR. DAVID JENKINS

asked the Postmaster General, If, with the view of accelerating the delivery of the Mails, he will consider the advisability of substituting our most western port, Falmouth, for Plymouth, as the port of call for the West India Mail Steamers?

LORD JOHN MANNERS

, in reply, said, that the West India Mails had been for some time landed at Plymouth instead of Falmouth, among other reasons because the steam packets as a rule performed the voyage just as quickly to Plymouth as to Falmouth; and the distance to be traversed by railway cost much less from Plymouth than from Falmouth, especially between London and the manufacturing districts. It was, therefore, proposed to continue the agreement by which the homeward bound West India Mails were landed at Plymouth; and, after being sanctioned by the Treasury, it would shortly be proposed to the House of Commons. Moreover, the railway from Falmouth to Plymouth was only a single line, and it, therefore, did not afford the proper facilities which were required.