§ MR. HENNIKER HEATON () CanterburyI beg to ask the Postmaster General whether he has observed on page 33 of the Official Report of the Postal and Telegraph Conference of all the Australian Postmasters General, held at Brisbane in March last, that it is stated by the permanent heads of the Australasian Postal Departments that, the London Office having absolutely refused to exchange postal notes with Australia, they have 194 no recommendation to make; upon what grounds the British Post Office has taken up an attitude of resistance to the wishes of the Australian Colonies in this matter; whether he is aware that we already receive from and pay postal orders to at least seven British Possessions, including India; and whether, with a view of removing the difficulties foreseen, he will consider the advisability of adopting a uniform type of postal order?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. A. MORLEY, Nottingham, E.)I have seen the statement referred to in the Report of the Australian Postal Conference at Brisbane. I am informed it relates to the decision of the late Government, in which I concur, that it would be inexpedient, if not impracticable, so to extend the postal order system as to admit of its use for remittance to distant Colonies. There are no remote places in which these orders can be cashed, though there are six British Possessions, not seven as stated in the question, in which British postal orders may be obtained for transmission to England—namely, India, Hong Kong, the Straits Settlements, Newfoundland, Malta, and Gibraltar. There are only two in which British postal orders can he cashed—i.e., Malta and Gibraltar, where the Post Offices, like the British Office at Constantinople, at which such business is also transacted, were Agencies of the Imperial Post Office when the postal order system was extended to them. They are, moreover, comparatively near home; whereas, if postal orders were payable in remote parts of the Empire, the danger of loss to the Revenue by forgery or fraud would be largely increased owing to the length of time that must elapse before the discovery of the forgery or fraud. I know of no substantial demand in this country for the extension to the Colonies of a system devised expressly for inland purposes, and not so suitable for general use as the existing system of money orders which meets all reasonable needs.
§ MR. HENNIKER HEATONWill the Postmaster General permit the Australian Colonies to establish a postal order system in this country?
§ MR. A. MORLEYThat is a question of which I must ask for notice.