§ MR. HENNIKER HEATON (Canterbury)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether his attention has been called to the clearly printed postmarks on the letters received in this country from New York and Ottawa, compared with the indistinctly printed postmarks on the majority of letters sent from the leading London post offices; whether he is aware of the existence of the Canadian postmarking machine recently invented, which clearly prints the post town, date, and hour of posting; and whether any, and, if so, what steps are now being taken to improve the postmarking of letters in this country?
§ MR. HANBURYThe attention of the Postmaster General has been called to the postmarks in question, and to the postmarking machines which are in use to some extent in the United States and Canada; and he has informed the representative of the proprietors that he is prepared to give the system a trial whenever they are in a position to submit a machine for the purpose.