§ MR. TOULMIN (Bury, Lancashire)To ask the Postmaster-General if his attention has been called to the greater rate of postage for parcels charged from the United Kingdom than from various European countries to Egypt, Japan, and many of our Colonics; and if he is prepared to revise the rates so that our commerce shall not be at a disadvantage owing to the more costly nature of parcel post facilities from the United Kingdom.
(Answered by Lord Stanley.) No opportunity of reducing the rates on parcels sent from this country to places abroad is neglected, and negotiations for a reduction of the rates to Japan are now in progress. The question of a reduction is, however, not one which rests solely or even primarily within my discretion, as the rates on such parcels are, roughly, the aggregate of the amounts required by the several administrations through whose hands the parcels have to pass.