§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)To ask the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that the scheduled time for the arrival of mails from Bundoran Junction to Bundoran is 8.45 a.m.; that it is impossible for the replies to catch the outgoing morning mail, entailing a delay of two days in replies to England and Scotland; that letters arrive at Bundoran from Sligo at 9.45 a.m. and Grange, Manorhamilton, at 10.45 a.m., but are not sent out for delivery till after the arrival of the 2.45 p.m. train, while letters from Ballyshannon, Donegal, and Balinton, which arrive at Bundoran at 351 4 p.m., are not delivered till the following morning; and that a letter posted at Ballyshannon, the market and banking town of, and three miles distant from, Bundoran, is not delivered till twenty-four hours after it has been posted; and whether, having regard to the inconvenience and dislocation of business transactions, and to the negotiations which have been on several occasions entered into between the postal authorities and the Great Northern Railway for an effective rail-posted service between Bundoran and Bundoran Junction and Omagh in lieu of the present horse-cars, steps will be taken to secure the amelioration of the deficiency in the postal service in those localities.
(Answered by Lord Stanley.) As I informed the hon. Member on Monday last†, a recent inquiry into the postal services in this district showed that it was not practicable to effect an improvement in them. I am, however, making further inquiry, and will communicate with the hon. Member as soon as I am in a position to do so.