§ MR. HENNIKER HEATON (Canterbury)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether, in face of the contention put forward by the postal authorities that the British Colonies, or some of them, object to the institution 1600 of Imperial penny postage from this country to the rest of the Empire, and in view of the offer of the hon. Member for Canterbury to furnish an absolute and incontestable refutation of that contention, he will appoint a small independent Committee to investigate and finally determine this question and report thereupon, and so put it beyond all doubt, and further to ascertain and report upon any further objection, if any, which can be raised to the establishment of Imperial penny postage or ocean penny postage to all parts of the Empire?
§ MR. HANBURYThe hon. Member is incorrect in saying that the British Colonies have been represented by the Post Office as objecting to the institution of Imperial penny postage from this country to the rest of the Empire. Their objection has been to a penny postage from the Colonies to this country, many of them having an internal rate much above a penny, and bearing the loss of revenue which would therefore follow. The objection to an Imperial penny post, even if it were limited to mails going only to the Colonies from England, would come, not from the Colonies, but from foreign States over whose railways these mails would pass at a rate much below the 2½d. paid for mails to those countries themselves. The objections to ocean penny postage from this country to the Colonies, but not from the Colonies to this country, which is the latest modification of the hon. Member's proposals, can be better stated in a discussion on the Vote than in the narrow limits of a reply to a Question on the Paper.
§ MR. HENNIKER HEATONsaid that he desired to ask the right hon. Gentleman what objection he had to an Inquiry by an independent Committee as to the objections raised by the Colonies to the establishment of an Imperial penny postage. Would the right hon. Gentleman consent to an independent Inquiry on the subject?
§ MR. HANBURYNo. I have already said that the Colonies do not object to a penny post from this country.
§ MR. H. O. ARNOLD-FORSTER (Belfast, W.), asked whether it was the fact that the Australian Colonies objected to an Imperial penny post on the ground of the large number of letters they would have to distribute in Australia?
MR. HAN BURYNo. I understand that the principal objection that comes from the Colonies has been to a penny post from the Colonies to this country. I am not aware of any objection raised by the Colonies to a penny post from this country to the Colonies.
§ MR. HENNIKER HEATONMay I be allowed to say in a few words that the Colonies offer no objection——[Cries of "Order."]