Mr. TYSON WILSONasked the Postmaster-General if he is aware that in the East Central section, General Post Office, on Friday, 30th June, more than 20,000 letters posted for the 6 p.m. collection in the City, in addition to 40,000 letters received by the French mail, failed the final delivery in the London districts, and will he say whether this condition of affairs prevails to a lesser or greater degree every evening; whether he is aware that through insufficient staff the whole of the correspondence dealt with in this section is despatched to the head district offices, after 7.30 p.m. until 6.30 a.m., unexamined, and that recently, on examination of this class sent to the Southwestern District Office, 2,000 mis-sorted letters were found in one despatch; and, if so, what steps, if any, he intends to take to prevent this delay to public correspondence?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELThe inquiries which I have made show that the number of properly posted letters out of the 6 p.m. collection which failed to be included in the final delivery in the London districts on the night in question was much fewer than 20,000, and included a large number of ½d. circulars posted after 5.30 p.m. which are not entitled to delivery on the same evening. The number of letters received in the Eastern Central district office unsorted from the French mail on the 30th ultimo, according to the records, was 24,000 only. The mail arrived more than one hour late; and even so, a quarter of the letters for the Eastern Central district was delivered the same night. The day in question was the last day of the month, the quarter and the half year, at all of which periods the amount of work increases. In consequence of this, and of the heavy postings of newspapers for abroad in connection with the Coronation, the circumstances were quite abnormal. A considerable addition to the staff was, of course, made to meet the anticipated pressure. The practice of despatching 483 correspondence to the head district offices unexamined between the hours of 7.30 p.m. and 6.30 a.m. has no reference to inadequacy of staff. Very few letters are found to be mis-sorted. I am unable to find any verification for the statement that recently 2,000 mis-sorted letters were found in one such despatch.