HC Deb 02 March 1908 vol 185 cc349-51
MR. MOONEY (Newry)

I beg to ask the Postmaster-General if he is aware that the amount paid by the Post Office to the London and North Western Railway Company for the carriage of mails is to be increased by the sum of £5,500; if he can state from what date Ms increased payment will be made; if he can state whether the whole of this increase is in connection with the company's Irish mail service; and if he will take steps to insure, before such increased sum is paid, that the Irish mail train run by the London and North Western Railway Company in connection with the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company's boats from Holyhead to Kingstown will be at least as fast as the London and North Western Company's boat train run in connection with their own boats.

MR. SYDNEY BUXTON

As the hon. Member was informed by the Secretary to the Treasury on Tuesday last, the payment to the London and North Western Railway Company for the conveyance of mails will be increased by £6,500 a year from the 1st April next, when the payment of £6,500 a year now made by the Treasury for the acceleration of the Irish Day Mail Services will cease. In return for this payment the railway company have agreed to carry out certain improvements which are mainly in connection with the mail services to and from Ireland. As regards the speed of the trains to Holyhead, there appears to be little difference between the times allowed for the mail trains and those of the company's boat trains, if allowance is made for the number and duration of the stops and the weight of the trains?

MR. MOONEY

Am I to understand from the right hon. Gentleman that any part of the contract in consideration of this increased service is that the train run in connection with the mail boat shall run at least as fast as the London and North Western trains.

MR. SYDNEY BUXTON

The subsidy of £6,500 was in respect of the acceleration of the day mail between London and Dublin. It was not found practically that that subsidy was justified under the circumstances, and it has been withdrawn. With regard to the other subsidy, it is not in connection with any question of the acceleration of the mail, but it is in respect of various improvements in the mail services mainly in those to and from Ireland.

MR. MOONEY

Cannot the right ton. Gentleman give a definite Answer to my Question as to whether, under the new arrangements, the train run in connection with the day mail boat will be at least as fast as the London and North Western train, or are they to get £5,500 for another train slower than their own?

MR. SYDNEY BUXTON

It is not in connection with that train; it is in connection with other matters that the £5,500 is granted. The £6,500 for the acceleration of the train will cease.

MR. WILLIAM O'BRIEN (Cork)

What are the alterations to be made in respect of which the new subsidy is given?

MR. SYDNEY BUXTON

I should like to have notice of that Question.

MR. MOONEY

That was my Question, and I have got no Answer to it, except that the train is not going to be slower than before.

MR. MOORE (Armagh, N.)

If this £6,500 for the acceleration of the day mail is to be withdrawn, will the acceleration which it purchased cease?

MR. SYDNEY BUXTON

No, the train will run as before. If the hon. Member means will it be slower, my Answer is that it will not.

MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN (Kilkenny)

May I ask the right hon. Gentleman if one of the conditions upon which the £6,500 was given was that the morning mail from Euston should start half an hour later, and is it now intended that it should revert to the original time of starting?

MR. SYDNEY BUXTON

I do not understand that either in the matter of time or speed will there be any alteration for the worse.