THE DUKE OF ARGYLLsaid, that before proceeding with the business on the Paper, he wished to call the attention of the noble Lord the Postmaster General to the recent regulation rendering compulsory the prepayment of inland letters. It was only an act of justice to the officers of the Post Office, and especially to Mr. Rowland Hill, to say that he knew of no department of the public service, the duties of which were more efficiently discharged, and that the new arrangement had not been adopted without mature consideration, yet he could not help regarding the change now adopted as being in the highest degree inexpedient. There had been no loss to the revenue from letters hitherto posted unpaid. On the contrary, there had been some small gain to the revenue from the double charge made for them. It had been said in another place that, although there was a double charge, it fell not upon the man who committed the fault, but upon the person to whom the letter was sent. This, however, was a matter between correspondents, and might safely be left to be arranged between them. 676 It would be seen, by reference to the pamphlet published by Mr. Rowland Hill, that in his original proposal it was intended, not merely that there should be an absolute refusal to deliver unpaid letters, but also those that were insufficiently paid. The fact, however, that this part of the plan had never before been acted upon, led him to imagine that the several Postmasters General, who had held office since that time, had some good reasons for not following it, or probably that Mr. Rowland Hill himself had, in this respect, altered his opinion. It had been said that the new rule was established to prevent Valentines and annoying letters from being posted unpaid; but this sounded very much like a joke. No doubt some people were pestered by receiving unpaid Valentines, but the annoyance of these few persons was not to be compared with the inconvenience sustained by the public at large from the new Post Office regulation. It had also been said that the colonial postage must, in many cases, be prepaid, and that as no inconvenience had been suffered from this rule there was no reason why the same rule should not also be applied to inland letters. Now, he was himself responsible for the principle as applied to colonial postage. The accounts between the colonial post-offices and the General Post Office were extremely inconvenient, and it was desirable that each country should keep its own share of the postage. There was, however, an important difference between letters abroad and those at home. Foreign and colonial letters were not written in a hurry, and correspondents knew the period when they must write. But the writers of inland letters were frequently compelled to write at a moment's notice, and these letters might refer to matters of life or death, or to affairs of the last commercial importance. Not being able to see what advantage was gained by the new rule that could countervail the great inconvenience to the public, he thought the change highly inexpedient. That very day he had been told by a medical friend, that two days ago three letters of importance passing between him and his patients were opened and returned to the writers. He had no doubt that the Post Office clerks were much too busy to read these letters, but their Lordships would see the unpleasantness of such occurrences.
§ LORD COLCHESTERsaid, he was glad to have an opportunity of removing some wrong impressions that prevailed on this 677 subject. He had been told that what had been done was illegal, and that there was an Act of Parliament which made it a punishable offence to detain a letter. It would, however, be found that by the Act 10 & 11 Vict. the Postmaster General, with the consent of the Treasury, was authorized to refuse to forward letters that were not prepaid. This power is now exercised as to all letters above a certain weight; to all registered letters, and to all late letters, that is, letters posted within half-an-hour of the dispatch of the mail. Also to all letters to the East Indies, to the West Indies, and to the South American States; it is proposed to extend it to all inland letters. By this means the money accounts of the Post Office will be simplified, and the deliveries of letters by the postmen accelerated. The public will be released from much annoyance, for it should be borne in mind that circulars of various kinds, foreign documents, and valentines were sent unpaid through the Post Office to a very great extent, and thus great inconvenience was caused to the public, and much trouble and delay to the Post Office officials. This was so well understood that many people had given orders that unpaid letters should not be sent to them, in consequence of the annoyance to which they were exposed, and thus occasionally letters of importance were refused. He had caused a search to be made for any opinions that might have been formed by former Postmasters General on this subject, but had not been able to find any having reference to the inconvenience of the system now proposed. It is enforced in the United States of North America, and in most of our Australian Colonies who manage their own post-offices. All new arrangements caused some inconvenience and trouble at first, but he had no doubt that in time the system now introduced would be found to work well, and that no real inconvenience would accrue to the public.
§ THE DUKE OF RICHMONDsaid, it was no doubt a matter of great importance to save trouble and expense to the Post Office, but he must say he thought with the noble Duke that the change which had been made was open to serious objection. He thought the less letters were opened and returned to the writers the better, and he should very much prefer that those which were unpaid should be charged additional postage on delivery. He hoped his noble Friend would reconsider the question.
§ EARL GRANVILLEremarked, that he did not think his noble Friend the Postmaster General had answered in a very satisfactory manner the question of the noble Duke. There was no reason why letters containing property should not be prepaid; but with regard to letters generally the option should be left with the writer. It had been said that the change was made for the benefit of the public, but, so far as he could gather, it seemed only to have been made for the convenience of the Post Office. There could be no doubt that it would cause very great inconvenience to the public. He had conversed with a great many persons on the subject, and he did not think he had met a single person who approved of the change. He had no doubt that the feeling of disapprobation prevailed very strongly among the middle classes, and still more so among the working classes. In some places it was an absolute impossibility to find a penny stamp on Sundays, and consequently many instances might occur in which letters could not be posted. [Lord COLCHESTER: The Post offices are open for a certain number of hours on Sunday.] He had certainly seen it stated that applications had been made for stamps on Sunday, and that they could not be obtained. He had merely taken the opportunity of expressing his concurrence in the views laid down by the noble Duke on the subject, in order to show that it was the general wish of the House that the noble Lord would reconsider the question.
LORD CAMPBELLsaid, that so far as he was personally concerned, he should be glad if the present arrangement were to remain in force, because he received a great number of letters, anonymous and otherwise, not paid, and they gave him no small annoyance. He continually received letters from suitors in the Court of Queen's Bench, and from all kinds of persons, and they were very seldom indeed paid. All writs issued by the Court of Queen's Bench were in the name of John Lord Campbell and in the form of a letter, and as he was supposed to be the writer of these letters he was continually receiving answers to them. So far as he was concerned personally, therefore, he ought to be satisfied with the change; but on public grounds he felt himself compelled to join in the recommendation of the noble Duke, that the new order should be rescinded, and the former arrangement restored.