§ MR. HENNIKER HEATONI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he is aware that two letter carriers, who had been using their own bicycles for the delivery of letters in a country district, with the result of a great saving of time and fatigue, have recently been ordered by the local surveyor to perform their rounds on foot, although the roads are in excellent order; whether one of these letter carriers had purchased a new machine for use in his rounds; and whether he will instruct the surveyors and other officials of the Department to encourage the use of bicycles by letter and telegram carriers as much as possible, in accordance with the declared wishes of the Postmaster General?
§ MR. HANBURYThe case to which the hon. Member is believed to refer is not, as he seems to think, a recent one. It is, on the contrary, two years since the postmen in question applied for permission to use their own bicycles, but their request was not granted from a fear that regularity could not be maintained. Last year, however, general instructions were 1379 issued on the subject, in accordance with which the two postmen have now been allowed as an experiment to use their bicycles.