§ MR. HAROLD COX (Preston)To ask the Postmaster-General what was the amount of postage collected last year upon the letters sent to Hong Kong from this country via Canada; and what is the annual subsidy paid by the British taxpayer to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company for carrying such letters.
§ (Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) The amount of the postage collected on correspondence other than parcels sent from the United Kingdom to Japan and China via Vancouver during the year 1906 is roughly estimated at £7,000. To this should be added £1,400, the British share of the postage on parcels, and a sum of about £3,000 received for the conveyance of foreign and Colonial mails. The annual subsidy payable to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company is £60,000, of which £15,000 is contributed by Canada. Under the new contract this payment covers the conveyance of mails for all places, and not only for Japan and China.