§ MR. C. E. SCHWANN (Manchester, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, will be explain why the privilege enjoyed till recently by benevolent societies, in connection with the Post Office, of transmitting the amount collected, by means of service money orders, free of expense, was withdrawn on 1st April 1896; and, what amount has the Department saved by the withdrawal of this concession which had received the sanction of successive Postmasters General during the last 20 years, in view of the benefit it brought to the widows and orphans of Post Office employees?
§ MR. HANBURYIt is not the fact that the privilege received the sanction of successive Postmasters General during the last 20 years. It appears to have been allowed originally under a. misapprehension, but there is nothing to show that the attention of successive Postmasters General was directed to it. The present Postmaster General considered that he had not the right to make any concession in favour of benevolent societies connected with the Post. Office which he had no power to extend to similar charities out side, and in consequence came to the reluctant conclusion that the privilege must be withdrawn. The amount which the Department has saved by its withdrawal, or, to speak more accurately, the amount which it lost by the irregular concession in the past cannot be stated without considerable investigation.