COLONEL NOLANasked the Secretary to the Treasury, If any memorials or reports have been received at the Post Office stating that Tuam and North Galway have been injured rather than helped by the recent acceleration of the mails to the town of Galway, and if he would take steps to enable Tuam to benefit by the acceleration of the mails; if it is a fact that the Railway Company which leases the Tuam line only receives 19s. a-week for carrying the mails by day 16½ miles, and if the mails are carried by night at a cost of £165 by car; if it is possible to come to some agreement with the Railway by which the mails could be forwarded at once to Dublin or Tuam, instead of waiting two and a half hours at Athenry; and, if he could, at night, replace the car service by a train service to and from Tuam?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. H. H. FOWLER)Memorials have been received on the subject referred to, including a written statement from the hon. and gallant Member himself, and are undergoing careful examination. The existing payments for the mail service are correctly stated in the Question. It is feared that the substitution of trains for the car which conveys the night mail to Tuam would confer little, if any, postal advantage, while the cost would be undoubtedly large. But both this point and the question whether an improvement of the day mail is feasible shall be fully considered.