§ MR. HENNIKER HEATON (Canterbury)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he is aware that the late Postmaster General, Mr. Arnold Morley, not long before quitting office, wrote to the hon. Member for Canterbury, agreeing to his request that the word "by" might in future be omitted in the phrase "by post" or "by train," inserted as a direction for the 529 mode of delivery of a telegram; and that the concessions thus announced as duly embodied in the regulations in the "Post Office Guide," and still appears therein; and will he explain why, nevertheless, the regulations printed on the backs of telegram forms continue to demand the insertion of the word "by" in the directions referred to; whether he is aware that at the Charles Street Post Office, in the south western district, on the 26th ult., a clerk insisted on the insertion of the word by" before the word "post" in inserting such a direction in a telegram, and on charging for the extra word, notwithstanding Mr. Arnold Morley's express promise, and the existence of a regulation founded on that promise; and whether he will take measures for embodying the regulation which now appears in the "Post Office Guide," also in those printed on telegram forms, and for insuring that it shall be strictly observed for the future?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. R. W. HANBURY,) PrestonThe Postmaster General is aware that his predecessor in office agreed to the omission of the word "by" from the instruction "by post" or "by train" in connection with the mode of delivery of a telegram, and he regrets to find that the alteration has not been carried out on the back of the telegram form. He has given Instructions for the alteration to be made in the next reprint of the forms, and for a notice of the subject to be issued to the staff generally. The Postmaster General is not aware of the Charles Street incident to which the hon. Member refers, but he will have inquiry made and the staff of that office instructed on the subject.