§ MR. O'HANLONI beg to ask the Postmaster General if it is a fact that the trains to and from Dublin and Wexford stop at a station only one mile from Newcastle, and that no letters are sent either way, but that the letters are carried on foot seven miles to Newtown Kennedy, at a very great loss of time and inconvenience to the traders; and, whether he will arrange that in future letters be lifted at Newcastle Station by the train service?
§ * THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. RAIKES, University of Cambridge)The hon. Member is correct in stating that the trains to and from Dublin and Wexford stop at a station which is about one mile from the Newcastle Post Office, and that no letters to and from this office are conveyed by these trains. The correspondence is conveyed on foot between the Newcastle and Newtown Mount Kennedy offices, which are three miles apart. The morning delivery of letters commences at Newcastle at 7 a.m., and no improvement in this respect is needed. The day mail letters are delivered at 5 p.m., at the same time as the collection for the night mail takes place. An acceleration could be made iii the hour of delivering the day mail letters, and a later hour for posting letters in the evening could be granted, if the train service were utilised; but the amount of correspondence is far too small to justify the additional expenditure which this alteration would involve.