§ MR. GREENEasked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether he will cause a Return to be prepared and laid upon the Table, showing the number of Halfpenny Post Cards sold singly at each Post Office in the United Kingdom for one week; and, whether he will suspend the carrying out of the Regulation under which it will be impossible for any one to purchase a single Card until this Return had been presented to the House?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, in reply, that he had no doubt that the Return could be procured; 1525 but it would be necessary, in order to obtain the necessary information, to apply to 15,000 post offices, which would entail an enormous amount of expense and trouble, for which the result would hardly compensate, because, though single post cards had been sold over since the law came into force, they had not been sold in the numbers expected. They had been used much more for the purpose of advertisement than correspondence. No such regulation as that referred to in the Question had been issued, and the hon. Gentleman could only have obtained his information on the subject from some person in the Post Office, thus acting in a manner contrary to his duty in making known a regulation connected with his office. The subject was under consideration; but, no regulation having been issued, he could not undertake to suspend it.
§ MR. GREENEexplained that his information came from the Under Secretary the other day, when he said that the Department would save £13,000 a-year by the regulation.