§ MR. CAVE (Surrey, Kingston)To ask the Postmaster-General whether any steps are at present being taken to make arrangements for the despatch, to and from the countries of the Far East, of 695 newspapers and commercial papers sent at the usual special rate for the latter over the Siberian Railway route.
(Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) As I recently informed the hon. Member for the Hexham Division of Northumberland, the charges for the conveyance of mails via Siberia are so high that the British Post Office has been compelled, in common with other European Post Offices, to restrict the use of this route to specially addressed letters and postcards. I am endeavouring, in concert with other postal administrations interested in the matter, to effect a reduction in the present cost of transit.