§ MR. SLOAN (Belfast, S.)To ask the Postmaster-General if he can say on what grounds a regulation was made forbidding the exchange of stamps for cash by the public at post offices; and whether, seeing that this regulation is inconvenient to a certain section of the community, he will consider the advisability of withdrawing the same.
(Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) The present regulations prohibiting the repurchase of postage stamps from the public over the counter of post offices were made with a view to impose a check on the pilfering of stamps from employers, and on the use of stamps for remittances, a practice which was found to lead to the theft of letters. It was also desirable, on sanitary grounds, to stop the re-issue of repurchased stamps to the public The regulations are working smoothly, and I see no reason for altering them.