§ 22. Mr. Gibson-Wattasked the Postmaster-General what action he intends to take on Lord Hinton's report to the Minister of Transport on the co-ordination of the parcels service of the General Post Office with the railways and the road hauliers.
§ Mr. BennMy right hon. Friend tells me that he will be making an announcement about parcels and sundries in due course and I would ask the hon. Member to await that statement.
§ Mr. Gibson-WattIs the Postmaster-General aware that his noble Friend, Lord Snow, in another place the other day said that the parcels post was five times as expensive and slower than it was 1244 in 1939? Will he, therefore, take this matter of the parcels post particularly to his heart? Secondly, will he admit that it is not a coincidence that 19 out of the 88 Questions which have been asked today have been to do with the parcels and letter post?
§ Mr. BennI am well aware of this. Indeed, we signed the contract with British Railways earlier this year to give to the Post Office certain rights of supervision and, indeed, duplication of rail parcel carriage in the event of difficulty arising. It also saves £4 million a year, which will help to bring the service into balance. In so far as it is open to me to co-ordinate parcels delivery with the railways, this is already done. Wider questions about parcels and sundry services generally often refer to things of a very different kind from Post Office parcels.