§ DR. CLARK (Caithness)asked the Postmaster General, If it is true that the Post Office pays £2,500 a-year for running a special train from Aberdeen to Keith, at 3.35 a.m. out of the down London day mail, carrying a few local bags, and persists in sending the mails from Perth to the North, which are 100 per cent heavier, by a slow goods train, which is almost overtaken by the London night mail before it reaches Wick and Thurso, although it leaves London 10 hours earlier; and, when the Highland District, embracing as it does no less than seven counties, is to be put on a footing of equality with the district from Aberdeen to Keith, which has two fast mails each way daily for mails of far less weight and importance?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. RAIKES) (Cambridge University)It is quite true the Post Office pays £2,500 a-year for an early morning mail service from Aberdeen. This service includes trains not to Keith alone, but also to Banff, and carries mails not only from 35 Aberdeen, London, and the South generally for towns in this locality, but also through mails from Aberdeen and other Scotch towns for Inverness and the North. The whole Highland district north of Perth is abundantly provided with mail trains at a very heavy cost; and, having regard to the outlay already incurred, I am quite unable to see my way to agreeing to any further expenditure.