§ SIR FREDERICK MAPPIN (York, W.R., Hallamshire)I beg to ask the Postmaster General whether it is the practice of the Post Office authorities to deliver letters only three times a week in a parish situated six or seven miles; from a town containing more than 300,000 inhabitants; and whether he will re-consider his decision declining to afford better postal facilities for the parish of Bradfield, near Sheffield, on the ground that the cost would exceed the revenue derived from the letters delivered?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. RAIKES, Cambridge University)In reply to the hon. Member, I have to state that it is the general practice of the Department to provide for an official delivery of letters six days a week in rural districts wherever the number of 1520 letters to be delivered warrants the cost. In some cases, where the houses are very scattered and the letters few, the delivery is restricted to three days a week, and the district referred to in the question is one of these. The expense even now incurred in maintaining the three days post to the district of Bradfield is considerably in excess of the revenue derived from the letters delivered, and I regret that I do not feel justified in incurring further expenditure.