§ 113. Mr. MAURICE HEALYasked the Postmaster-General if he will circulate a statement showing for each day of October the extent to which the night mail to Ireland was late in arriving at Holyhead and Kingstown, and also showing the delay each day between the arrival at and departure from Kingstown and the arrival at and departure from Kingsbridge?
§ 114. Mr. HEALYasked what time is required between the arrival and departure of the morning mail at Kingstown, and what time, apart from that allowed because of anticipated delays in arrival, is required between the arrival and departure of the same train at Kingsbridge; what the precise work is which is alleged to require this delay at Kingsbridge; and why it cannot be done either at Kingstown or at Kingsbridge before the train arrives?
Mr. PEASEThe transfer of the mails from the packet to the train at Kingstown Pier occupies about seventeen minutes, but additional time is required for the transfer of the passengers' luggage and the railway company's parcels. At Kingsbridge there is a fixed interval of forty-eight minutes. So far as the mail service is concerned, a shorter period would suffice; but the longer period is said to be necessary for railway purposes, and I am not in a position to offer any opinion on this point.
§ Mr. HEALYMight I ask whether, on an important matter of this kind, affecting all the South of Ireland, he accepts the statement of the railway company without investigation?
Mr. PEASEWe are very glad to give every facility for inquiry into the matter, but I should like to point out that, so far as the railway companies are concerned, it is a matter which affects the Board of Trade. "We employ the companies, but we do not control them.