§ DR. CLARK (Caithness)I beg to ask the Postmaster General whether he has received an excerpt from the Minutes of the meeting of the Magistrates and Town Council of Thurso on the unsatisfactory state of the conveyance of the mails to the North; whether it is 1481 the case that the mail trains have been two and three hours late for several weeks; and why the Postal Authorities have ceased sending the sorting van to Wick?
§ * MR. RAIKESIn reply to the hon. Member I beg to say that I have received a copy of the Minute of the Town Council of Thurso on the subject of the Mail Service, and it is now under consideration. I regret that it is the fact that since the beginning of this month the night mail train has been very late, and strong representations have been addressed to the Highland Railway Company. The principal cause appears to be the pressure of the traffic owing to the large number of passengers proceeding to the North for the shooting season. The sorting carriages never proceeded so far North as Wick. But it is true that the journey was shortened last year in connection with the arbitration with the railway company, the reason for curtailment being that the advantage derived from the longer journey was not sufficient to justify the large expenditure which the continuance of the previous arrangement seemed likely to involve.