§ MR. JOHNSTON (Belfast, S.)asked the Postmaster General, If he is able to give any further information concerning the display of Freeman's Journal cartoons, side by side with Post Office notices, in the joint office of the Post Office and Freeman's Journal, Rathmines Road, Dublin; if there are other suitable places in Rathmines for a Post Office besides The Freeman's Journal office; whether the Post Office has, till recently, been held in various shops in the locality; and, if any steps have been taken to prevent the display of political cartoons side by side with postal notices?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. RAIKES) (Cambridge University)In answer to a previous Question from the hon. Member, I stated that I had been unable to ascertain that in the Rathmines Road Receiving Office cartoons of The Freeman's Journal had been exhibited side by side with Post Office notices. It has since been ascertained that, inside the shop and close to the shop door, there is a raised screen on which cartoons have been exhibited, and sometimes, but not always, Post Office notices as well. Of this I informed the hon. Member in a letter I wrote to him on Thursday last; and I further informed him that explicit instructions had been given that, under no pretence whatever, were Post Office notices and cartoons to be again posted side by side. In Rathmines there are, no doubt, other places 549 suitable for a Post Office besides the shop in which it is now held. During the last four years the Post Office has been removed only once—namely, from No. 86A, in Rathmines Road, where the accommodation was insufficient, to the present convenient premises at No. 95. I may add that by the kindness of my hon. Friend I have had the pleasure of inspecting the cartoons, and it does not appear to me to be in any degree more offensive than ordinary caricatures; and the likenesses of my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary for Ireland and the noble Marquess at the head of the Government were, I thought, remarkably good.