§ MR. BAXTERasked the Acting Postmaster General, with reference to the increasing complaints made by the mercantile community that letters to the United States are frequently sent by slow steamers, If any arrangements are being made for the regular transmission of the mails by the fastest boats on the Atlantic to whatever Company they may happen to belong?
§ MR. SHAW LEFEVRESir, that service is performed by three of the best Companies running steamers across the Atlantic—namely, the White Star, Inman, and Cunard Companies, and the average of their passages compares favourably with those of other lines. My right hon. Friend the Postmaster General, in reply to a similar Question addressed to him last November, stated that there are other elements besides speed to be considered in arranging mail contracts, it being very important to secure as much regularity as possible in the arrival and departure of mails. This would not be attained by employing one or two exceptionally fast steamers in rotation with others of average speed; and for the present there seems to be no advantage in upsetting the existing mail contract, which secures both regularity and efficiency.