§ MR. HENNIKER HEATON (Canterbury)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he is aware some thousands of copies of a circular, namely, a renewal notice, issued by the Mortgage Insurance Corporation, were recently subjected to the letter post rate, on the ground that a date had been inserted in the first paragraph; whether no objection was taken to a date inserted in a subsequent paragraph; whether the regulations regarding statements of account expressly authorise the insertion of dates without restriction; and, whether he will direct that the fines in the case referred to shall be remitted?
§ * MR. HANBURYThe Postmaster General is aware that a number of copies of the document referred to were charged with letter-postage. The document consisted of a circular as well as a statement of account or renewal notice, and while (the book post regulations allow any written dates to be inserted in the latter, the only date which can be inserted in a circular is the date of dispatch. The fact of a sender combining in one document a renewal notice and a circular letter containing other information cannot exempt the document from the regulations applicable to a circular. As therefore in this case the book-post regulations were infringed, the Postmaster General is unable to remit the charge.
§ MR. HENNIKER HEATONasked whether, as it was admitted that the regulations were complicated, he would have them re-cast in a clear and intelligible form.
§ * MR. HANBURYsaid he did not think the regulations were at present complicated.