HC Deb 24 March 1899 vol 69 c330
MR. WEIR

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster-General, whether his attention has been called to a report that a mail bag from the wrecked steamer "Labrador" was observed recently by a lad while out fishing a few miles off Scarinish, in the north-west of Mull, and that he did not take the trouble to convey it ashore as no definite reward had been offered for the salvage of mails; and will he consider the expediency, in similar cases of wreck, of immediately offering rewards for the salvage of the mails?

MR. HANBURY

The report referred to is probably identical with one which has reached the Post Office about a boatman who professed to have seen a mail bag in the sea near Dervaig, in Mull. It is well known that persons who save mail bags are rewarded; and a considerable number of such bags cast away by the wreck of the "Labrador" have been recovered through the efforts of boat-men and fishermen. Some of the claims for reward have already been settled, and others are under consideration.