§ SIR J. STIRLING-MAXWELL (Glasgow, College)To ask the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that postal orders to the amount of £19 13s. 3½d. were stolen in a Glasgow post office from letters addressed to Messrs. Ogg Brothers of Glasgow, and that the man suspected of the theft, though acquitted on a test case in a Court of law, has been dismissed from the service of the Post Office; and, if so, will he arrange that the money stolen will be refunded to Messrs. Ogg Brothers.
442 (Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) I am aware of the case mentioned. In the case of the postal orders which were used to remit the greater part of the amount lost, the remitters did not comply with the regulation which requires the person to whom an order is issued to fill in the name of the payee, and the loss of the amount of the orders is attributable to the neglect of this precaution. In certain other cases, in which the remitters filled in the name of the payees, the orders were not negotiated, and their amount has been paid to Messrs. Ogg Brothers by means of duplicate orders. I regret that I am unable to make good the amount of the remittances referred to in the Question, but where the senders of postal orders neglect the very obvious precautions which are enjoined by the regulations, I see no reason for indemnifying them at the expense of the public.