§ MR. WEBSTER (St. Pancras, E.)I beg to ask the Postmaster General whether there is a rule of the Post Office (dependent upon the Act of Parliament) whereby supplements of newspapers are required to be dated, as well as to bear the title of the paper in which they appear; whether he is aware such regulation acts as a great hardship upon such papers as the Graphic, inasmuch as it is necessary to print fine art supplements many months before publication, when it is impossible to fix the date with any guarantee that it may not have to be altered, and as this is impracticable it renders the supplement, prepared at great expense, valueless, as under this regulation it is not permitted, unless correctly dated, to pass through the post; and whether a proposal has been 304 made to the Post Office that details of every supplement shall, as an alternative plan, be printed in some conspicuous position on the paper, apart from the supplement, and if so whether such proposal can be accepted?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. RAIKES, University of Cambridge)The facts are as stated by my hon. Friend, and the hardship is one which I think should be remedied. This is not, however, possible without an alteration of the law, but I hope it may be possible to deal with the matter during the present Session.