§ Sir L. Lyleasked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that letters from this country to the United States take about six weeks to reach Washington and as long to cover the return journey; and the reasons for these long periods of transit?
§ Captain CrookshankI am aware that as long a time as six weeks is occasionally occupied in the transmission of letters sent by surface route between this country and Washington. Although the Post Office uses the ships which are likely to result in the earliest possible delivery of the letters, the time of transmission from port to port is inevitably much longer than in peace time owing to war time conditions affecting the times of departure, the routes followed, and the speed of the ships. According to the latest available information the times of transmission of mails despatched to the U.S.A. during the three months August-October varied from 8 to 24 days from port to port, the average time being 14 days. In the inward direction the transmission times of mails arriving during the past three months varied from 14 to 30 days from port to port, except for one occasion when the journey took 49 days. To these times must be added the time during which mails may have waited for the departure of the next ship, and this may be several days. Censorship might also in certain circumstances be a contributory factor. If my hon. Friend will kindly furnish me with particulars of any specific cases where the delay has apparently been excessive, I will gladly have inquiries made.