HC Deb 29 April 1897 vol 48 c1243
MR. WEIR

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he is aware that in the parish of Lochs, Island of Lewis, with a population of 5,000, there is no office open for the transaction of money order and savings bank business; and that, if the people of the district wish to cash a postal order or obtain a money order they have to travel to and from Stornoway, a journey of from 20 to 30 miles; and whether, in the circumstances, he will consider the advisability of establishing a money order office at one of the post offices in the Lochs district?

MR. HANBURY

As the hon. Member is, of course, aware, the District Committee of the County Council is empowered to enter into a guarantee for both telegraphic facilities and the extension of money order and savings banks business. The extension of telegraphic facilities carries with it the extension of the other facilities named, and the proposal of the hon. Member to deal with only one of them is not I think the most practical method. The question of extending these various facilities is one which should be treated as a whole, and from that point of view consideration shall be given to the claims of the district mentioned by the hon. Member.