HC Deb 10 June 1920 vol 130 cc610-2
Mr. BOTTOMLEY

(by Private Notice) asked the Secretary of State for Home Affairs whether he is aware that a letter addressed to the hon. Member for South Hackney, bearing the postmark of the 3rd June last, was detained and opened by the Postal Authorities, and ultimately delivered, with the written intimation in red ink on the envelope that it had been detained and opened and forwarded to addressee by order of the Home Secretary; whether he will state under what legal authority this was done, and with what object, and whether he will give an assurance that letters addressed to Members of Parliament shall not, in future, be tampered with?

Mr. SHORTT

If any letter addressed personally to the hon. Member has been opened by the Post Office, it must have been through some inadvertence, which I regret. If the hon. Member will be so good as to let me have the cover of the letter which he describes, I will have inquiry made. For my authority to order the detention and opening of letters, I would refer the hon. Member to Section 56 of the Post Office Act, 1908.

Mr. BOTTOMLEY

Arising out of that answer, I desire to ask the Home Secretary what control he has over the Postmaster-General at all in regard to the opening of letters, and whether this endorsement on the envelope is a fabrication and untrue; and, if so, can he explain the extraordinary fact that the letter of a Member of Parliament, which might contain important information, was opened?

Mr. SHORTT

I have no authority over the Postmaster-General, but letters can only be detained and opened by the authority of a Secretary of State. As far as this letter is concerned, I have said that if the cover is sent to me, inquiry shall be made. With regard to the letters of Members of Parliament, they are, of course, treated in exactly the same way as those of other people.

Mr. PEMBERTON BILLING

May I ask the Prime Minister if he will consider the fact that in many cases the correspondence of Members of Parliament contains charges against Government Departments, and requests, in the public interest, to raise matters in this House; and that if these letters are to be opened, does he not think that this very necessary information will not be forthcoming, because the writers of the letters will feel that they are being penalised by that information leaking out? Under these circumstances will he see that the correspondence of Members of this House—

Mr. SPEAKER

That is a matter of which the hon. Member must give notice.