§ MR. J. HENNIKER HEATON (Canterbury)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he is aware that in many of the principal Continental cities a post office is kept open at the railway terminus, at which business, including registration, is transacted until the departure of the mail train; and that letters can be posted in the travelling post office or van attached to through trains up to the moment of departure whether he will provide similar facilities at the railway terminal stations in the United Kingdom, and cause a letter box for the reception of letters to be attached to every through train in the three kingdoms; and whether, in all agreements entered into with new railway companies, and for new lines or renewed agreements with old companies, he will insist on letter boxes for all through trains, and, where possible, travelling post offices or sorters' vans on these trains?
§ MR. HANBURYIn some of the principal Continental cities post offices are maintained at the railway termini. In Berlin, for example, it is understood that ordinary letters posted at such offices may be handed in at times varying from five to twenty minutes before the departure of the train by which they are to be conveyed. Registered letters and parcels must, however, always be posted half an hour at least (in some cases an hour) before the train leaves. Letters can also be posted in the travelling post office up to the time of departure of the tram. Facilities for late posting are already provided at the principal railway termini in London, and at many other railway stations, and a letter box for the reception of late letters is affixed to every train in the kingdom in which there is a travelling post office. The system is only adapted to trains in which there are officers of the Post Office travelling, who can examine the letters posted at each station and put them in proper course 800 for their destination. Without such examination, letters for intermediate places would be constantly over-carried, and great complaint would arise. The Postmaster General does not, therefore, see his way to extend the late letter box system to every through train in the three kingdoms as suggested by the hon. Member. It would, for the reasons just given, answer no useful end (and would certainly enhance the demands of the railway companies) if in all agreements the Postmaster General were to insist on the provision of letter boxes in all through trains. When travelling post offices or sorters' vans are required it is already the practice to provide for them in the railway contracts.