§ MR. O'DOHERTY (Donegal, N.)To ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he is aware that the mails for Carndonagh, Malin, and Culdaff before the 1st May last reached Carndonagh by train arriving at 8 o'clock, and that since the 1st May they only reached Carndonagh by train arriving at 9.55; whether complaints have been received by the Post Office authorities from merchants and others in the said districts complaining of this delay; and, if so, what steps, if any, the Postmaster General purposes taking in order to ensure as early a delivery for the above-named districts as what they had prior to the 1st May last.
(Answer.) Before the 1st instant the mails for Carndonagh, Malin, and Culdaff were conveyed by a train from Londonderry, which was due at Carndonagh at 8.15 a.m., but the Company discontinued this train beyond Buncrana because the Postmaster General felt unable to agree to the terms which they demanded. There is no alternative, therefore, but to forward the mails by the later train which is due at Carndonagh at 9.55 a.m. The Postmaster General regrets that in these circumstances the improved postal service which was afforded for a few months cannot be maintained.—(Post Office.)