§ MR. PROVAND (Glasgow, Blackfriars)I beg to ask the Postmaster General whether he is aware that mails from China and Japan are received viâ New York usually several days and sometimes a week sooner than viâ Halifax or Quebec; and will he therefore arrange for these mails to be seat forward by the New York steamers?
§ MR. A. MORLEYDuring the present year the average transit time from Yokohama to London has been nearly 32 days viâ Quebec or Halifax, and nearly 31 days viâ San Francisco. There are cases in which the mails sent viâ Vancouver might be expedited by being diverted from the Canadian Pacific Railway and carried to New York, there to be placed on board the United States packet for this country; but that result, even if it could always be secured, would deprive the service of the advantage of being wholly British, to which considerable importance has, I think, reasonably been attached.
§ MR. PROVANDWill the Postmaster General inform us to what extent the service would not be British? If letters were carried by the Canadian Pacific Railway to Montreal, thence by another railway to New York, and by British steamers across the Atlantic, is it not the case that the mails would only be for a few hours between Montreal and New York on a foreign mail route?
§ [The question was not answered.]