§ LORD VIVIANcalled the attention of the noble Lord at the head of the Post Office to the irregularity of the mail trains on the several railways, and asked whether it was the intention of the Government to apply to Parliament for more stringent powers?
§ VISCOUNT CANNINGsaid, that no one could be more sensible than he was of the extreme inconvenience to which the public were exposed by the irregularity of the mail trains; but, as the powers which Parliament had given to the Postmaster 259 General were of little or no avail, he had endeavoured by friendly communication with the different railway companies, to come to an understanding for a mutual system of fines to be imposed on the Post Office and the companies respectively, each checking the irregularities of the other. He thought it very desirable that some such system as this should be adopted as speedily as possible, because the continuation of these irregularities not only occasioned great public inconvenience, but might lead to prolonged disputes between the railway companies on the one hand, and the Post Office authorities on the other. He had thought it the best policy to deal amicably with the question in the first instance; but he should not hesitate to apply to Parliament for further powers in the event of the present arrangements proving insufficient to obtain regularity.