§ MR. J. L. CAREW (Dublin, College Green)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he can state the result of the negotiations with the Committee of the London and North Western Railway Company in reference to the acceleration of the Irish day mails?
§ MR. HANBURYThe Postmaster General, the Chief Secretary and myself, saw the Chairman and Manager of the London and North Western Railway Company on Tuesday last, and it was arranged that they should furnish an estimate of the cost of improving the day passenger service. That estimate I have not yet received. The day mail is already faster than the North Wall boat train, and is only 19 minutes slower to Chester than the night mail itself. The acceleration of what is now the 7.15 train, would therefore only slightly improve the hour of starting from London. That train must run as far as Chester in any case if North Wales is to receive its mails as early as it has hitherto. If an additional train has to be run, starting from Euston at (say) 8.30, it would be more convenient, of course, for London passengers, but it would mean that Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, and other passengers who form two-thirds of the traffic for Ireland, would either be detained for a long time at Crewe or Chester, or start considerably later than at present—although the present hours of starting have proved very convenient for them. The alteration in the times of these trains would also dislocate the existing postal arrangements of the localities concerned.