§ MR. CATHCART WASON () Orkney and ShetlandTo ask the Postmaster-General if he will say what subsidy is paid for the conveyance of mails to South Africa and East Africa respectively; and if he will take into consideration the expediency of calling for tenders for service from London to the Cape by the east and the west route alternately.
(Answered by Lord Stanley.) The amount of the subsidy paid to the Union Castle Mail Steamship Company for the conveyance of mails to and from South Africa is £135,000 a year; and a payment of £9,000 a year to the British India Steam Navigation Company is the only subsidy at present given for the conveyance of British mails to East Africa. The contract for the conveyance of the South African mails is between the company and the Cape Government, and, as it will not run out till the year 1910, some years must elapse before such a change as that suggested can come into practical consideration.