§ MR. JOHN ROCHE (Kerry, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether, if it is brought to his knowledge that the Great Southern and Western Railway officials are willing that the fast mail from Dublin should be stopped at Mallow Junction, and that they are prepared to forward at once the mails and passengers to Killarney and Tralee as well as to Fermoy and Lismore, he will, on the part of the Post Office, consent to such an arrangement being carried out as soon as possible?
§ MR. HANBURYThe Postmaster General would, of course, be prepared to give careful consideration to any proposals received from the railway company as regards the mails for Killarney and Tralee, but until he is acquainted with the full details of such proposals he is not in a position to say whether he will be able to assent to them.
§ CAPTAIN DONELANI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he is aware that the only station in the South of Ireland at which the mail trains of the Great Southern and Western Company now stop is Limerick Junction; and whether, in view of the importance of Mallow Junction as a centre of railway communication with the large districts of Cork and Kerry, arrangements will be made in the new time table for a stoppage at this station instead of at Maryborough or Kildare?
§ MR. HANBURYThe mail trains between Dublin and Cork stop at Kildare, Maryborough, and Limerick Junction. The discontinuance of the stop at either Kildare or Maryborough would give rise to serious public inconvenience and complaint, but the question of arranging for a stop at Mallow in addition to the present stops is being carefully considered in connection with the revision of the time table consequent on the acceleration of the mail service between England and Ireland. The decision, however, will partly depend on the Company being able to increase the speed of the train so as to insure that the arrival at Cork shall not be retarded by the stop, and by the Company's readiness to put on trains to and from Tralee in connection with the mail, as without such trains the stop would be useless, and the Post Office would not be justified in paying for special trains for the service.
§ CAPTAIN DONELANMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether it is not the fact that the chief object of the accelerated mail service between Dublin and Cork was not to benefit the South of Ireland?
§ *MR. SPEAKEROrder, order! The Question on the Paper is a precise one about a very small local detail. It is not a general question.
§ CAPTAIN DONELANMay I point out, with great respect, that although this matter appears to be one of mere local interest, it forms part of a very important national question.
§ *MR. SPEAKEROrder, order! That is exactly what I said did not arise out of the Question on the Paper.
§ MR. T. B. CURRAN (Donegal, N.)On behalf of the hon. Member for Cork County, S. (Mr. E. BARRY), I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether any steps will be taken for the dispatch of the night mails on their arrival in Dublin, instead of allowing them to remain there for hours according to the present system; and whether any arrangement will be made for the delivery in London and other English business centres of the morning mails from Dublin at such an hour as to enable correspondents to reply by the evening mail, thereby considerably accelerating the transit of letters to and from England?
§ MR. HANBURYNo, Sir. As I stated on the 15th instant, very strong pressure has been brought to bear upon the Postmaster General by Irish representatives to fix, not an earlier, but a later hour for the departure from Dublin of the day mail to England, which of course carries the night mails from the Irish provinces, and it is to meet this desire that the Department, with some reluctance, fixed 7.10 a.m. instead of 6.40 a.m. as the hour of departure of the English day mail from Dublin. As the time of arrival in London and all other places in England will, under the acceleration, be the same as at present, the existing arrangements for delivery will remain unaltered.