§ SIR CHARLES MCLAREN (Leicestershire, Bosworth)I beg to ask the Postmaster-General whether the present arrangement whereby the outward Cape mail leaves Southampton about one o'clock on Saturday afternoon, while the incoming mail is delivered in London a few hours later on the same day is to be continued, whereby a week must elapse before answering letters can be despatched by the Post Office authorities; whether he has made inquiries to ascertain if the Union-Castle Company could accelerate speed so as to secure the arrival of the incoming mail on Thursday night or Friday morning were they required to do so; and whether he will make such arrangements as will improve the postal service in this respect.
LORD STANLEYThe arrangement of the mail service to and from South Africa is not correctly described in the Question. The mails for South Africa do not leave London until 2.10 p.m. on Saturdays; and the Cape Mail Packets leave Southampton some three hours later. In the homeward direction, Packets are due at Southampton on Saturday morning; and on about three Saturdays out of four the mail from South Africa is delivered in the city of London early enough in the morning for replies to be sent by the outgoing Cape Packet on the same day. The service is performed by the Union-Castle Company under a contract with the Cape Government extending to the year 1910; and I am not aware that the Cape Government contemplates any change in it. Not being in a position to alter the service myself, I have not made inquiries on the point of speed referred to by the hon. Member; nor, so long as the stipulations of the contract are carried out, is there any ground on which I can press upon the Cape Government the arrangement of conditions more arduous for the contractors and, therefore, probably more expensive.