§ MR. HENNIKER HEATON (Canter bury)To ask the Postmaster-General 431 whether his attention has been directed to the fines imposed on the public for affixing stamps on postcards on the back in place of the address side; whether there is any justification for his officers obliterating with stamping machines the stamps so affixed in addition to fining the receivers of the postcards; under what rule or postal regulation fines are imposed for stamps so wrongly affixed; and whether there is in the rules any penalty for affixing stamps on the backs of letters in place of the address side.
(Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) No penalty is imposed for affixing stamps to the backs of letters; but the sender of a postcard has the privilege of sending a letter for a postage of a ½d., and it has been thought reasonable, therefore, to impose certain conditions in the case of postcards. One of these conditions is that the stamp must be affixed to the address side, and as it is just as easy to affix the stamp on the right side as on the wrong, I do not propose to alter the rule.