MR. PATRICK O'BRIENI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster-General, whether, in view of the extra weight of post bags, and the extra distances to be travelled by postmen in Ireland in consequence of the house to house delivery of rural districts, it is intended to allow rural postmen, and especially those of long service and of advanced years, to have at their own expense, or to be provided by the Post Office, some sort of vehicle for the conveyance and expedition of the mails?
§ THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (for Mr. HANBURY)The arrangements for extending the house to house delivery in the rural districts of Ireland have involved the employment of a large number of additional postmen, but the limits of weight and distance observed in laying out foot posts have not been increased. In cases where the weight to be carried or the distance to be travelled is too great for a man on foot, allowances are made to postmen in Ireland, as in England and Scotland, to enable them to provide a horse and cart for use on their rounds. Postmen whose duties do not exceed the powers of a man on foot, but who having vehicles of their own are desirous of using such vehicles at their own expense, would be allowed to use them on application, provided they left no house on their appointed round unvisited, and observed the prescribed hours.