THE EARL OF MALMESBURYasked the Postmaster-General whether he could give a Return showing the postal districts within the area of which there was still, in parts, no daily delivery of letters; what distance (mileage) from the post town of these districts entitled residents therein to a daily delivery of letters; and under what conditions postmen in rural districts were provided with bicycles. Whilst acknowledging the general progress of the Post Office in recent years, he said that there were some districts which had been very much neglected. He referred especially to rural districts which were not very far from postal towns, and the conditions of which were normal. He did not claim that country districts ought to have the same advantages as busy urban districts, but he thought that when there were no natural difficulties, such as existed in the case of an island, or a mountainous region, there should be one daily delivery of letters. He gave an instance of houses standing at the roadside in his own district, where there was not a daily delivery, and drew attention to the fact that the provision of a bicycle, for facilitating the work, in this case would only cost 1s. extra per week.
THE MARQUESS OF LONDON-DERRYMy Lords, I must ask my noble friend not to press for the Return mentioned in his first Question, as it would entail an enormous amount of trouble without any satisfactory results. In regard to the daily delivery of letters in all parts of the United Kingdom, I am e ad of the opportunity of clearing up a misapprehension which, I think, has obtained as to the remarks of the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the subject in the House of Commons in April, 1897. The impression seems to prevail that that speech gave an assurance that the Post Office would deliver letters daily to every house in the United Kingdom. That is erroneous. The words of my right hon. friend were that "the Post Office would take steps to secure that there should be a delivery," not necessarily every day, but still, a regular delivery at every house in the United Kingdom. The undertaking then given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer has been carried out as far as it is possible. It is estimated that between 22nd June, 1897, and the end of September, 1900, a house-to-house delivery has been accorded in the United Kingdom for about 57,250,000 of letters a year which previously were left at the Post Office to be called for, or at the house nearest to that of the addressee, or were delivered into roadside boxes. By 30th September, 1900, the arrangement for regular delivery to houses was complete in England, and is now practically in operation throughout Scotland and Ireland as well. Therefore, I think my noble friend will see that, with that vast amount of letters that have been dealt with since the speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it would be asking my Department more than it would be well to ask for to request a list of all the districts in the United Kingdom without a daily delivery of letters.
In regard to the second Question put to me, I judge from the speech of my noble friend that he considers that letters should be delivered according to the distance of the recipient from the nearest post town. That, however, is not a line of argument which the Department can follow. We base our deliveries, not on the distance from the nearest post town, but on the 152 amount of correspondence that takes place, and the expense of its delivery. Suppose, for instance, that there was a particular house which had only a delivery of six letters per week. We would not be justified in incurring the expense of giving those six letters a daily delivery during the whole week. But in the case of districts we have arranged that there shall be a delivery daily, six times in the week; and in places where this is not at present so satisfactory as we would like, we take steps to add, if possible, to the number of deliveries, if it can be done without undue expense.
As to the third Question of my noble friend, bicycles are provided for rural postmen whenever it is considered that it is an advantage to them in the discharge of their duties, but the Department have to take the greatest care that bicycles are only given in districts where they can be used all the year round, and not merely where they can be used in summer time. The reason is that the recipients of letters expect them to be delivered with regularity; and with foot postmen they receive them with absolute regularity all the year round, the weather not affecting the matter at all. The number of bicycles used in rural districts is 450, and the Department are ready to add to the number, whenever it is proved that the conditions permit of their use.