§ MR. HOGAN (Tipperary, Mid)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster-General, what was the cause of the delay in delivering the Australian mails brought by the Orient steamer "Orizaba," which were landed in Naples on Saturday, July 1st, and did not reach London until Wednesday last; and whether any facilities for the reasonably rapid transmission of colonial mails from Naples are in contemplation.
§ MR. HANBURYThe Australian mails landed at Naples from the packet "Orizaba" were despatched from Naples by the 11 p.m. train on Saturday, the 1st instant, and reached London late on Tuesday afternoon, and not on Wednesday, as the hon. Member supposes. The correspondence was delivered on Tuesday evening in London, with the exception of some outlying suburbs. It appears that the mail was detained some hours at Rome, in consequence of an irregularity in the Italian railway service south of that city, which is being enquired into. The Postmaster-General has recently been in communication with the Italian and French Post Offices on the general question of the Continental transit of Australian mails landed at Naples; and in each country arrangements have been made which are expected to prove satisfactory.