HC Deb 13 June 1892 vol 5 c897
MR. SEXTON

I beg to ask the Postmaster General whether he is aware that the surveyor for the Northern District of Ireland refused to forward a Petition from the postal staff of the Belfast office because the Petition was a printed one; whether there is any rule which directs that Petitions should be in manuscript; and whether any English surveyor has refused to forward a similar Petition on the same ground?

THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON,) Manchester, N.E.

I am informed that the surveyor refused to forward a Petition on the ground that it was a printed one; but on being again asked to forward it he referred to Dublin and was told he might do so. There is no rule in the Post Office prescribing that petitions should be in manuscript, though there might be some reason in one. No English surveyor, so far as is known, has refused a Petition on the same ground.