§ MR. PULESTONasked the Postmaster General, Whether the public, not generally knowing that coin cannot be sent to foreign Countries in registered letters, the Post Office authorities accept such letters, register them, and, having obliterated the postage stamps, return the letters to the senders, causing thereby loss and inconvenience; and, whether such letters when presented for registration should not be refused?
§ MR. FAWCETTSir, in reply to the hon. Member, I beg to say that the prohibition to which he refers has been before the public for many years; and, judging from the small number of complaints, I think it must be generally well known. When a letter for a country in the Postal Union, to which alone the prohibition refers, is tendered for registration, the postmaster, if he notices that it contains coin, refuses to register it. It occasionally happens, however, that the nature of the contents is not observed till the letter reaches the hands of the officers by whom the foreign mails are made up—after the stamps have been obliterated. The letter is then returned to the sender, as it would be an infringement of the provisions of the Postal Union Treaty to send it on.