MR. TANKERVILLE CHAMBER-LAYNE (Southampton)To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies what arrangements are being made for the continuation of the mail service with the West Indies, seeing that the contract 439 with the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company expires on June 30th next, and whether the tenders lodged by that company on October 1st, 1904, were made public by a Colonial Governor, and have recently been declined; and whether fresh tenders have since been requested on exactly the same terms and conditions.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton.) The question of the mail service with the West Indies is still under consideration, and I am not in a position to make any announcement on the subject at present.