§ MR. MACALEESEI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, is he aware that great irregularity exists in regard to the delivery of mails in that part of county Tyrone traversed by the Clogher Valley Tramway; is he aware that the tramway manager insists upon his trains being despatched each morning without the mails, unless these be up to the minute at Tynan, the result being that letters which should be delivered be- 272 tween 9 and 10 o'clock a.m. are left undelivered till between 4 o'clock and 5 o'clock in the afternoon, leaving no time for reply by return; does the tramway company receive any subsidy for carrying the mails; and, if so, how much; and will the Postmaster General withdraw this subsidy, and resort to the conveyance of the mails by post car, thus enabling the public to escape from the inconvenience created by the tramway manager?
§ MR. HANBURYThe Postmaster General regrets to find that owing to the late arrival at Tynan of the day mail train from Portadown failures of junction occur with the 9.40 a.m. train on the Clogher Valley Railway. It is the fact that the 9.40 a.m. train is started punctually from Tynan, and when it has to leave without the mails brought by the Great Northern train letters for places on the Clogher Valley are delayed some hours in delivery. The Clogher Valley Railway Company receive a subsidy of £130 a year for conveying the day mails, but this payment gives the Department no power to call upon the company to detain the train, which has to reach Maguiresbridge punctually, in order to connect with a train for Enniskillen. The Postmaster General will consider the suggestion of the honourable Member for the conveyance of these mails by car; but he fears that, whatever advantages a car might have on the days on which the Great Northern train was late, it would give a later service throughout the valley on the more numerous days when the train was punctual.