HC Deb 08 August 1893 vol 15 cc1551-2
MR. FOEWOOD (Lancashire, Ormskirk)

I beg to ask the Postmaster General at what times were the mails from the United States brought by the Etruria, which arrived at Queenstown on Friday last, delivered at Liverpool, Manchester, and Glasgow, and at what times would they have been delivered had the services of special trains and vessels been employed for their transmission from Queenstown; and can he yet say whether letters superscribed "viâ Queenstown," posted in the United States for Great Britain or Ireland, are forwarded by vessels bound for Southampton, and under what circumstances?

* THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. A. MORLEY,) Nottingham, E.

I have applied for, but have not yet information which will answer the first part of The Etruria arrived off Roche's Point at 9 p.m. on Friday, and the mails were landed at Queenstown between 10 and 11 p.m. This was not one of the cases for which the special service was intended. I have not yet received a communication from Washington as to the Rule adopted under circumstances referred to in the latter part of the question.

MR. SEXTON (Kerry, N.)

asked whether, if a special train had been employed, letters coming by the Etruria could not have been replied to by the Cunard steamer which sailed on Sunday morning instead of waiting for the White Star steamer on Thursday?

* MR. A. MORLEY

replied that the object of the special train arrangement was chiefly to secure the arrival of mails within business hours. That would not apply in the case mentioned by the hon. Member.

MR. SEXTON

Was not one of the chief objects to secure not only the rapid delivery of letters, but also facilities for promptly replying to them?

* MR. A. MORLEY

That was undoubtedly one of the objects, but it would only apply in a small proportion of cases.

MR. FORWOOD

My question bad reference to the delivery of mails in the North of England, not in London.

* MR. A. MORLEY

I do not think it would have made any difference, but I will inquire.

MR. SEXTON

I should like to understand why, for the sake of a small expenditure, commercial men in London and other great business centres had their replies to America delayed by four days?

* MR. A. MORLEY

This was not a case in which a special service would have been supplied.

MR. SEXTON

As the right hon. Gentleman has admitted that one of the main objects of the special service was to facilitate the transmission of replies to American letters, how is it that the Regulations would not apply in such a case as this?

* MR. A. MORLEY

The time fixed for the running of specials was when the mails arrived between 2 and 7 p.m.; but these mails would not have been landed until between 10 and 11 p.m. That was why the special service did not come in.

MR. FORWOOD

When did the letters leave Queenstown, seeing that they were not delivered in Liverpool till 4 o'clock on Saturday afternoon?

* MR. A. MORLEY

They were landed between 10 and 11, and were sent by special train, which caught up the mail.