§ MR. SAMUEL MONTAGU (Tower Hamlets, Whitechapel)asked the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether it is a fact that all letters for the United States posted in Brussels, Paris, and other 1476 large cities on the Continent, and arriving in London in closed mails on Thursday morning, are forwarded by the British Post Office to New York by a fast line of steamers from Southampton on that day, to the prejudice of English traders, the correspondence posted in this Country being kept back for a later steamer; and, whether the Postmaster General will take steps to remedy this grievance?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. HENRY H. FOWLER) (Wolverhampton, E.)Closed mails from the Continent are received in London every Thursday morning for conveyance to New York by the North German Lloyd steamers from Southampton, while the British mails containing correspondence posted as late as Thursday evening are forwarded that evening by British steamers viâ Queenstown. So long as the present agreement between the Postmaster General and the British steamship lines remains in force the Postmaster General is precluded by that agreement from sending by non-contract lines any other letters than such as bear a special superscription; any letters so endorsed are sent by the German steamers.