HC Deb 14 December 1956 vol 562 c87W
Mrs. L. Jeger

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies why a letter, posted in London on 25th July to Archbishop Makarios, was not delivered to him until 13th October; and how long it will be before he receives copies of the OFFICIAL REPORT of the Cyprus debate on 14th September, which were posted to him on publication.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

If I have correctly identified it from the information given in the first part of the Question, the letter was addressed to the Archbishop in Seychelles, whence it was sent to Cyprus for examination and returned without delay to Seychelles for delivery. Mails between Seychelles and the mainland travel by infrequent ship, and the average period of transit for each stage of the letter's journey was nearly three weeks.

As regards the second part of the Question, the copies of the OFFICIAL REPORT to which it refers were delivered to the Archbishop on 13th December.