§ MR. DAVID JENKINSasked the Postmaster General, Whether he is willing to extend the hours for the transmission and receipt of telegrams until ten p.m. the earliest, in towns with a population exceeding five thousand inhabitants, inasmuch as great inconvenience is experienced by the public in consequence of the closing of Postal Telegraph Offices in our smaller towns at an early hour of the evening?
§ LORD JOHN MANNERS,in reply, said, except in large towns the number of messages sent out and received after 5 p.m. was not sufficient to pay for the cost of keeping the offices open until the present hour, which was almost universally 8 o'clock; and, therefore, to keep the smaller offices open until 10 o'clock would necessitate a waste of money, without any corresponding advantage to the public.