§ DR. CLARK (Caithness)asked the Postmaster General, Whether it is the case that the mail steamers from Portree and Stornoway generally arrive at Strome about 9.30 a.m.; that the mail train leaves at 11 o'clock, arriving at Dingwall 40 minutes after the north mail has left, and hence the mails are detained at Dingwall for nearly 24 hours; that the mail train from Strome to Dingwall is a very slow train, taking two hours and 30 minutes for a distance of 53 miles; and, whether he will either arrange for the train to start earlier, or to increase the speed of the train?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. RAIKES) (Cambridge University)In reply to the hon. Member, I beg to state that the facts are substantially as set forth in his Question, except, perhaps, that the steamer from Stornoway frequently arrives at Strome Ferry before 9.30 a.m. But I am advised that any earlier departure than 11 a.m. of the mail train from Strome Ferry would, probably, give rise to public inconvenience in the working of the Steam Boat Service, and is therefore undesirable. An acceleration of the train from Strome Ferry would, as I have already stated to the House, involve expense which circumstances do not appear to warrant, there being no reason to believe that the Railway Company would effect an earlier arrival of the train at Dingwall, except for an. additional payment, which the amount of correspondence to be benefited would not justify.