§ 10. Mr. Peter Freemanasked the Assistant Postmaster-General how many 2s. 6d. and 5s. books of stamps have been sold since these books were first introduced; and if, in view of their popularity and convenience to his staff and the public generally, he will arrange for other varieties of books of stamps to be issued at prices up to £1 and with varying proportions of stamps.
§ Mr. GammansUp to the 31st December, 1952. about 540 million of the 2s. 6d. books, introduced in July, 1940, and about 128 million of the 5s. books, introduced in August, 1931, were sold. With regard to the second part of the hon. Gentleman's Question, my noble Friend is always prepared to consider within 188 reason other denominations of books if he can be convinced that there is an effective demand for them.
§ Mr. FreemanIs the hon. Gentleman aware that the fact that 700 million of these books have been sold shows that there is a public demand for stamps being sold in books, and in view of the great convenience that this would be for the public and his staff, will he consider issuing, as an experiment in the first place, other books of varying amount to see how demand develops?
§ Mr. GammansIt would not be of convenience to the staff. We have always to remember that there are 24,000 post offices in the country of which 22,000 are sub-post offices. We wish to reduce to a minimum the number of articles which can be sold across the counter, otherwise it would mean congestion and giving the public a worse service in the long run.
§ Mr. FreemanIs it not convenient to sell a book of stamps instead of 60 or 70 stamps individually and separately, which has to be done at present?
§ Mr. GammansNot necessarily: I have told the hon. Member that if we could be convinced—and I shall be glad of any evidence which he can produce—that there is a real demand for other denominations of books we shall do our best to meet it.