§ MR. MAURICE HEALYI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether the attention of the Postmaster General has been called to the great expense caused to political organisations in connection with the revision of lists of parliamentary voters by the amount of the registration fee charged on notices of objection sent by post, viz., 2d. in addition to 1d. postage, i.e. 3d. postage on each objection; whether he is aware that the registration fee on these notices was fixed at 2d. as a concession at a time when the registration fee of ordinary letters was 4d.; whether a notice of objection, if sent by post in the ordinary way, would require more than ½d. postage; and, whether, in view of the fact 509 that the work of parliamentary registration is of a public character, he will consider the advisability of reducing the postage on objections to ½d. and the registration fee at 1d., being half the ordinary registration fee as originally intended?
§ MR. HANBURYThe Postmaster General's attention has not previously been called to the subject referred to by the hon. Member, but he is aware that the registration fee on notices of objection was fixed at 2d. by the Parliamentary Voters Registration Act 1843, at a time when a higher registration fee was charged on ordinary letters. The work prescribed by the statute in reference to these notices is not the same as that involved in the ordinary registration of a letter, and the Postmaster General will consider whether it will be possible for the special registration, fee of 2d. to be reduced. With respect to the postage as distinguished from the registration fee, notices of objection have already been admitted to the half-penny rate of postage where they conform to the authorised definition of a circular.