§ MR. JACOB BRIGHTasked the Postmaster General, Whether the Government contemplates associating with the Parcels Post any system of registration or insurance of parcels?
§ MR. FAWCETTIn reply to my hon. Friend, I may state that the Government have had under their consideration the question of whether or not it would be desirable for the Post Office to undertake the registration or insurance of parcels; but it has been thought better to postpone coming to a decision on the subject until we have had more experience of the working of the Parcel Post.
§ MR. THOROLD ROGERSasked the Postmaster General, Whether he can now see his way towards carrying out the reform in the inland postage of samples, in accordance with the practice prevailing in other countries which are comprised in the Postal Union? The hon. Gentleman also inquired, whether the right hon. Gentleman's attention had been called to the fact, as alleged in the newspapers, that under the present system, if a person bought 1,000 Belgian postage stamps, and then sent his parcels over to Belgium to be sent from there to this country, he gained 40s. per 1,000 by the operation?
§ MR. FAWCETTSir, I am fully sensible of the anomaly to which I believe my hon. Friend refers, that a sample can be sent from a foreign country, such as France or Belgium, to England at a lower postage than that at which a packet of the same weight can be sent from one part of England to another. The question of a sample post cannot, however, be considered apart from an international parcel post. The arrangements for this are now being carefully considered, and I can assure my hon. Friend that the question to which he refers shall not be lost sight of.