§ MR. JORDAN (Clare, W.)I beg to ask the Postmaster General why the mails for the North-West of Ireland are so long delayed at Dundalk; and why, after their arrival at Enniskillen, letters are so long in being delivered that it is impossible to reply by midday mail to the English correspondence?
§ *SIR JAMES FERGUSSONThe day mails from Dublin for Enniskillen reach Dundalk at 8.2 a.m., but there is no train by which they can be sent forward until 9 a.m. The letters are received at the Enniskillen Post Office at 11.35 a.m., and the delivery which begins at 12.5 p.m. lasts about one hour thirty minutes. The letter box being closed for the despatch of the return mail at 12.45 p.m., there is little, if any, interval for reply; and the only means by which a satisfactory interval could be secured would be the establishment of a train specially for the mail service in each direction between Dundalk and Enniskillen. The outlay involved in such an arrangement would be far beyond what the revenue would warrant. I will consider whether, by 205 any moderate expenditure, the delivery can be expedited.