§ MR. KENNYasked the Postmaster General, Whether notice has been served on the mail car contractors in Ireland, setting forth that from the 18th of August next no parcel under seven pounds in weight can be received or carried by mail car other than what passes through the Post Office; if, in consequence of the loss which contractors will suffer by this regulation, it is proposed to grant them fair compensation; and, if so, what facilities will be afforded to the contractors to prove their exact losses; and, whether the Post Office authorities have adopted any scale by which to regulate such compensation?
§ MR. FAWCETTIn reply, Sir, to the hon. Member's Question, I may say that notice has been served on the contractors for mail services throughout the Kingdom, that parcels up to the weight of 7 lbs. w ill form part of Her Majesty's 207 mails from the date on which the Parcels Post comes into operation; and in a certain class of contracts it has also been necessary to restrict the carriage of parcels entirely to such parcels as may be sent through the post. The terms of payment under these altered conditions are a matter for negotiation, and a settlement has been already arrived at in a very large number of cases. Where fresh terms cannot be agreed upon, it is open to the contractors to terminate the contract by three months' notice, when the service will be put up to public competition.