MR. COOHEANE-BAILLTE (St. Pancras, N.)I beg to ask the Postmaster General whether cards conforming in all respects to the regulations cannot be issued and sold by the Post Office, and to which it shall be permissible that a halfpenny stamp should be affixed when transmitted through the post?
§ * MR. RAIKESThe hon. Member asked on a former occasion whether the public might not be allowed to send through the post with a half-penny stamp affixed cards for correspondence with which they were to supply themselves, on condition that such cards conformed in weight, size, &c., to the regulations laid down for post-cards; and in my reply I alluded to the great difficulty and friction which would arise in enforcing an observance of the condition. I understand he now asks whether the Post Office will not itself issue and sell such cards, so that any departure from the regulation size and weight may be guarded against. But the convenience to the public contemplated by the former suggestion would scarcely be met by the latter, because if persons desirous to use such cards must go to a post office to obtain them, they may just as well, in the great majority of cases, purchase and use the ordinary post-card?