§ MR. WEIRI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, if he will state what progress has been made with the negotiations with the North British Railway Company for the conveyance of the Stornoway mails via Mallaig; and will care betaken that tenders are invited for the steamer service between Mallaig and Stornoway.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThe negotiations with the North British Railway Company for the use of the new railway to Mallaig have not yet been completed, and no decision has been arrived at in regard to the question of sending mails to Stornoway over this new line. As any steamer service from Mallaig must in the first instance be experimental in character, the Postmaster General thinks that it would not be expedient at present to invite tenders as the hon. Member suggests.