THE EARL OF BELMOREasked the Postmaster General, What is the additional amount of subsidy paid by the Post Office to the Great Northern Railway Company of Ireland for the conveyance of the mails between Londonderry and Dublin, and vice versâ, since the late acceleration of the mail service; whether, in consequence of the acceleration of such postal service, complaints have not reached him or his Predecessor with regard to the non-stoppage of the trains at stations on the Great Northern Railway of Ireland, to the great inconvenience of persons engaged in business at, or visiting, any such places; and, whether he cannot make such arrangements with the railway company as will reduce such inconvenience to a minimum, without interfering prejudicially with the efficiency of the mail service?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Lord WOLVERTON), in reply, said, that since April 1, 1885, the additional sum of £1,000 a-year had been paid to the Great Northern Railway Company of Ireland for the conveyance of Her Majesty's mails, thus raising the total subsidy to £38,000 a-year. Applications had reached the Post Office for the stoppage of the mail trains at certain stations at which such trains did not now stop; but as such stoppages were not required for Post Office purposes, and as the applications could not be agreed to without 449 diminishing the short interval for the preparation of replies by return of post now afforded to Londonderry, neither he nor his Predecessor could properly assent to the applications. He was quite willing to consider any proposal which the Railway Company might see fit to put before him with the object indicated by the noble Earl, provided that the expense of this service was not increased, and the public accommodation was not diminished.