§ MR. REDDY (King's County, Birr)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, 608 as representing the Postmaster General, whether he is aware that a letter and the reply thereto between Lakefield, Ballinasloe, and Rathcabbin, occupy five days in transit, though the double distance is only sixty miles; that this state of affairs could be remedied by the Rathcabbin postman waiting half an hour at Birr till the Ballinasloe mail arrives, and by timing him to arrive at Birr on the return journey from Rathcabbin so as to catch the mail car for Ballinasloe; and whether he will take steps to carry these suggestions into execution.
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN,) Worcestershire, E.In order to make the connection suggested by the hon. Member, the departure from Birr of the mail car for Portumna, which serves Rathcabbin and other places, would have to be postponed from 5.45 a.m. to 7 a.m., and the return car would have to leave Portumna at 2.50 p.m. instead of 4.25 p.m. A very small proportion of correspondence would benefit by such an alteration, and as the postal service throughout a considerable district would be adversely affected, the Postmaster General would not be justified in sanctioning the change without evidence of its being generally desired by the inhabitants of the various places concerned.