§ MR. SEXTONasked the Postmaster General, What additional amount was offered by the Government to the Midland Great Western Railway Company of Ireland in the course of the recent negotiations for an improved Mail Service between Dublin and the West of Ireland, and what improvement in the Service was stipulated for by the Government; also what additional sum the Company asked for a Mail Service of forty miles an hour; and, whether he will 1098 lay upon the Table of the House a copy of the correspondence between his Department and the Midland Railway Company, and of any memorials and resolutions submitted to him with regard to the necessity for an improved Mail Service between Dublin and the West of Ireland?
§ MR. SHAW LEFEVREI am sure the House will regret to learn that my right hon. Friend the Postmaster General is suffering from a severe attack of pleurisy, which will, I fear, prevent his transacting business for some little time. He has asked me to act again as his deputy, and in that capacity I will answer this Question. No specific sum was offered to the Railway Company for accelerating the existing trains, because at the outset of the negotiations the Railway Company assured the Post Office that it was not practicable to secure an acceleration by making the existing trains start earlier and run at a faster speed. As my right hon. Friend recently explained, the question whether the circumstances would justify the running of the additional train is now being carefully considered. He is of opinion that no useful end would be served by laying copies of the Correspondence and Memorials to which the hon. Member refers on the Table, especially so as he fully recognizes how much importance is attributed throughout the locality to an acceleration of the mails.