§ 24. Mr. MOLTENOasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will consider the desirability, 185 with a view to reducing the work of the censors employed in examining mails, of allowing the correspondence of Members of Parliament to be free from censorship wherever it may be addressed, and not limiting it to their address at the House of Commons?
§ Mr. TENNANTThe reason of the present limitation is that, in the case of letters to a Member of Parliament, the censors cannot be sure, without having a list of all the addresses at which Members of Parliament are residing or may in future reside, that a letter addressed to a Member of Parliament is not really intended to reach another and less desirable person, and in the case of letters from a Member of Parliament it is impossible to say without inquiry whether his signature on the envelope is genuine. The proposal would increase and not diminish the work of the censors.
§ Sir A. MARKHAMIf the letters are addressed to hon. Members at this House, will my right hon. Friend make exceptions in those cases? All my letters from the front have been opened.
§ Mr. TENNANTI think that is the rule at present.
§ Sir A. MARKHAMNot to open them?
§ Mr. TENNANTYes.