§ MR. BOLANDI beg to ask the Postmaster-General whether his attention has been called to the inconvenience caused to Mr. Thomas Murphy, of Booterstown, county Dublin, through the failure of the postal officials to deliver a letter, addressed in Irish, to a correspondent in Kilronan, Aran, county Galway, and to the fact that, although the letter reached Kilronan on a Tuesday, it was not delivered at the proper address until the following Saturday; and, if so, whether, seeing that Irish is the home language of the Aran Islands, he can state what steps will be taken to insure that such a delay shall not occur again.
† (4) Debates cxli., 1332
LORD STANLEYI have had inquiry made into the case to which the hon. Member refers. The delay in the delivery of the letter was caused by the fact that, although the officers employed in the Kilronan Post Office can speak Irish, they were unable to decipher the address, which is stated to have been incorrectly written and spelled. I am sorry for the inconvenience occasioned.
§ MR. BOLANDWas the postmaster at Kilronan not able to read Irish, as well as speak it?
LORD STANLEYHe was not able to read it, but he took every possible method he could to find out what was meant by the address.
§ MR. BOLANDIs it not a fact that the reason why the delay took place was that the postmaster could not read Irish?
LORD STANLEYNo, Sir; it was because the man who wrote the Irish did not, apparently, know how to do it properly.
§ MR. BOLANDMay I ask who informed the noble Lord that the address was incorrectly written?