§ MR. NICOLOn behalf of Mr. HENNIKER HEATON, I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether any extension is contemplated in the provision of letter-boxes for attachment to through trains, to be cleared at the terminus of the journey, with a view to enable the public to post correspondence up to the latest moment, and to have it conveyed by the quickest and most direct route; and, whether, in the chief countries and colonies included in the Postal Union, letter-boxes are already provided for through trains?
§ MR. HANBURYLetter-boxes are attached to all trains in which travelling post offices run, and to a few other trains used for the conveyance of mails in which there is a mail guard. The question of extending the use of letter-boxes of this kind has often been considered, but, judging from the extent to which the existing letter-boxes on the principal mail trains are resorted to, the amount of correspondence which would be posted in boxes attached to ordinary trains would be trifling, and would not justify the special arrangements that would have to be made for meeting the trains and dealing with the correspondence, not only at the terminal but at intermediate stations. The Postmaster General is not aware to what extent letter-boxes are attached to ordinary passenger trains in the colonies and other countries included in the Postal Union.