§ MR. CALDWELL (Lanarkshire, Mid.)I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that the Canadian Pacific Railway and Ocean Steamship Company advertise 15 services in the year in either direction between Vancouver and Hong Kong; whether the mails will be carried by each of these ser- 1254 vices; and, if so, whether, under the Post Office contract with the Company, the yearly subsidy of £60,000 for a monthly service will be correspondingly increased.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINIt is the fact that the Canadian Pacific Railway Company advertises and performs 15 services in the year in each direction between Vancouver and Hong Kong, and that the mails are carried by each of these services. This arises from the circumstance that the Company, for its own purposes, sought permission of the Postmaster General in 1891 to make the service three-weekly instead of monthly in the summer season; and the three-weekly summer service instituted in 1892 has been continued ever since. No payment was, of course, asked by the Company for a change which was sought as a concession to its own interests, and no extra payment has been made by the Post Office; nor is the Postmaster General aware of any intention on the part of the Government to make any extra payment on account of the extra service in the future.