§ MR. J. HENNIKER HEATON (Canterbury)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General (1) whether in the financial year 1896–97, out of a total sum of £1,324,000 received for postage of parcels, £630,000 was the net receipts by the British Post Office, while £694,000, or 55 per cent., was paid over to the railway companies; (2) when, and by whom, the contracts binding the Department to pay this proportion of receipts to the companies were entered into, and when they will expire; and (3) whether he can estimate the sum annually thus paid over and above the sum which would be payable if the Department had to pay the ordinary rates charged to private persons for the conveyance of goods by rail?
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. R. W. HANBURY,) PrestonThe amount received from the Parcel Post during 1896–97 was £1,445,126, not £1,324,000. Of this sum the railway companies received £681,819, not £694,000; and the net receipt by the Post Office was £763,307, not £630,000. The railway companies are paid 55 per cent. on railway-borne parcels only, and not on all parcels as 939 the Question implies. There are no contracts binding the Department with the railways in respect of the parcel post. The arrangement was made by Parliament under the Post Office (Parcels) Act, 1882, and lasts till 1904. It is impossible to give the estimate asked for in the third paragraph of the hon. Member's Question, because the Post Office charges uniform rates for all distances, and pays the companies 55 per cent. of that charge for parcels carried by them, whereas, for the conveyance of parcels by rail, private persons have to pay rates varying according to distance.