§ MR. SAMUEL YOUNG (Cavan, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether, for the convenience of the public at Belfast, who may require to write letters late on Saturday night or on Sunday morning that should be delivered in England on Monday morning, he will consider the advisability of having a letter box placed at the railway terminus for dispatch by the train which leaves at two o'clock p.m. on Sundays; and, whether he is aware that some years ago, when a similar complaint was made as to the Irish letters posted in London on Sunday, a special bag or box was placed in the telegraphic office at the Strand for the convenience of the public?
§ MR. HANBURYThe question of the hon. Member opens up a large sub- 1430 ject. It has been the unbroken practice of the Post Office to dispatch only one mail on Sundays, and the adoption of the course suggested would lead to so many applications for similar accommodation elsewhere, that the Postmaster General does not think it advisable to depart from the existing practice. If the dispatch of the one mail from Belfast on Sunday were fixed at 2 p.m. instead of at 10 p.m. it would prove much more inconvenient for the Dublin correspondence than the present arrangement. It is the case that letters for Ireland bearing an extra fee may be posted in London on Sunday at the West Strand Telegraph Office and other places.