§ MR. HENNIKER HEATON, (Canterbury)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, what number of bicycles are in use or have been ordered by the Postal and Telegraph Department up to date; whether any tricycles have been ordered; and whether he has considered the policy of ordering tricycles for use by postmen in some parts of the country?
§ MR. HANBURYFor postal purposes, arrangements have existed for many years past under which, where the conditions are suitable, allowances are made to Rural Postmen for finding and employing both bicycles and tricycles. The exact number in use for postal purposes cannot be stated without obtaining reports from all parts of the country, but it is not very large. 100 bicycles have been recently purchased by the Department and issued to Telegraph messengers under the arrangement explained in reply to the Question asked by the hon. Member on the 5th March last. A number of bicycles are also used by Telegraph Messengers under the allowance system referred to in the same reply; And the Department is watching the result of the two experiments, with a view to ascertaining which is the more desirable for permanent adoption. The Postmaster General has every desire to encourage the use of bicycles and tricycles in those parts of the country where the roads are suitable for their use. But he believes that it is on the whole better that the postmen who use the machines should have an interest in them, and that the present system, therefore, of granting allowances for their use is preferable in the case of postmen, to the purchase by the Department of the machines.