§ MR. HENNIKER HEATONTo ask the Postmaster General whether his attention has been drawn to the delays in the transmission of the Australian mails from Naples to London, per Orient line, caused by their transport from the vessels and despatch by slow trains to London; whether he is aware that the last mails per Orient steamer from Sydney arrived at Naples on Thursday and were not delivered until late on Monday afternoon in London, and that it these mails had been carried on in the Orient steamer to Marseilles they would have been delivered in London by first post on Monday, beside saving the cost of transit through Italy; and whether he will take steps to remedy the alleged grievance.
904 (Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain): The only instance in which there has recently been delay in the delivery of mails from Australia conveyed to Naples is that specified by the hon. Member. The mail landed at Naples on the 28th of November ought in the ordinary course to have reached London at 7 p.m. on the 30th, and it would not have arrived before that evening if it had been carried on by the Orient packet to Marseilles. As a matter of fact the mail did not arrive until the afternoon of the 1st instant; but I have no reason to believe that the delay, respecting which I had already instituted inquiry, was due to other than accidental causes. I do not think it would be expedient to alter the existing arrangements, the Naples route being as a general rule the more favourable of the two.