§ *MR. A. K. LOYD (Berks, Abingdon)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether, in order to save labourers in rural districts from having to walk long distances, amounting often (there and back) to 10 or 12 miles, to fetch medicines for their wives or children in receipt of outdoor medical relief, the Post Office could arrange for a gratuitous medicine post, by which Poor Law medical officers could send medicines to pauper patients in such districts?
§ MR. HANBURYThere is a strict rule against sending glass by letter post; and packets containing bottles of medicine cannot therefore be accepted for transmission as letters. The Parcel Post, however, is available at reasonable rates for medicines whether in bottles or otherwise. I may also state that, for the convenience of the public in urgent cases, the ordinary rule prohibiting mail cart drivers and rural postmen from carrying private parcels has been so far relaxed as to enable them to carry small packets of medicine. The Postmaster General sees no reason why the duty of the free conveyance of medicine should be cast upon the Post Office.