§ MR. HENNIKER HEATON (Canterbury)I beg to ask the Postmaster General what is the estimated actual cost of stamping 1,000,000 postcards for private persons at the Inland Revenue Office: and whether it would be cheaper to allow private persons to affix halfpenny stamps to their own postcards, which, in size and in every other respect, conform to regulations, than to compel them to buy postcards supplied by the Government contractor?
§ *MR. RAIKESThe estimated cost of stamping 1,000,000 postcards for private persons at the Inland Revenue Office is £16 13s. 4d. I have, I think, quite recently informed the hon. Member that the question of allowing private persons to attach halfpenny adhesive stamps to their own postcards has been for some time under the consideration of a Departmental Committee, whose Report I am daily expecting. The cost of manufacturing postcards is necessarily considerable: but these cards, as the House is aware, are re-sold at a profit, which is not the case with adhesive stamps. The substitution of private cards for official postcards, therefore, so far from being attended with a saving of £40,000 or £50,000 a year to the State, would re-result in a loss of revenue, which would 27 equally result from the discontinuance of the charge now made at Somerset House for stamping private cards.