QUESTION. PAPERS MOVED FOR. (Hansard, 24 February 1859)

§ LORD MONTEAGLE
rose to draw the attention of the Postmaster General to the recent order with reference to Unpaid Letters, and moved for the production of Papers relating thereto. He objected to the power of opening letters assumed in this order by the Post Office authorities. So long as the necessary power of opening letters was in the hands of the Government there was some security against its abuse, for it was known that the Secretary of State was responsible; but now it was to be left solely in the hands of the Post 758 Office officials. There was no such analogy as bad been attempted to be drawn between this case and that of opening letters at the Dead-letter Office. In the latter case it was necessary in order that the letters might be returned, and nobody could object to it; but by the recent order the inviolability hitherto afforded to the correspondence of the country was for the first time—and he trusted for the last time—invaded for the purpose of compelling Her Majesty's subjects to take a particular course in forwarding their letters. Before the order was issued there were 2,500,000 letters posted annually without stamps. How was this number of letters to be opened and read? It would cause a glut of letters at the Post Office. To give power to open 2,500,000 letters was an entire departure from the principle on which the Post Office of this country had hitherto been conducted. It was said that, at the present time, the unpaid letters caused delay in the delivery of those that were stamped, but, if the unpaid letters were excluded from the first delivery, the object as to the paid letters would be attained, and the unpaid letters might be despatched by the second post. The order must give great additional labour to the Post Office, and it would be attended with great inconvenience to the public. The noble Lord then moved for— Copy of a Letter from the postmaster General to the Treasury, dated the 15th Day of January, 1859, requesting Authority to extend the System of compulsory Prepayment to Inland Letters; and of the Treasury Warrant sanctioning such Extension.

§ LORD COLCHESTER
said, he could have no objection to the production of the paper for which the noble Lord had moved, for the fact was it was already on the table of the other House. The suggestion that unpaid letters should be kept back for a later delivery would effect one object; but the Post Office in making the regulation had two objects in view—namely to facilitate the delivery, and to simplify the accounts. No doubt the opening of the letters was a necessary consequence of the plan; but surely it was for the convenience of the public that they should be opened and returned to the writers, rather than that they should lie unopened at the Post Office. And with regard to the violation of correspondence, he might observe that although the number of letters daily passing the Post Office misdirected was nearly 6,000, the number of letters opened at the Post Office daily was less now than 759 before the regulation was in force. In consequence, however, of the very strong opinion expressed on a previous occasion by the noble Duke opposite (the Duke of Argyll) and others, although the regulation had been introduced for the public benefit entirely, still, as it was thought to be attended with public inconvenience, he had taken upon himself to direct that it should no longer be acted upon—and he might state that the warrant to which the noble Lord referred, and for a copy of which he had moved, had been already withdrawn.

§ THE DUKE OF SOMERSET
said, it was satisfactory to hear from the noble Lord the Postmaster General that he had been induced to abandon the recent arrangement. At the same time, he thought it most desirable that something should be done to expedite the delivery of letters, and, therefore, the suggestion made by the noble Lord near him (Lord Monteagle), that prepaid letters should have an advantage over others in respect to early delivery, appeared an important one. It was found that in large towns that men of business, tired of waiting for their letters, were often obliged to leave home in the morning without receiving them; and they frequently found after they had left that the delay arose from the letter-carrier having to stop at a house, every now and then, to get two pence from some old woman to whom an unpaid letter had been addressed. He, therefore, thought it would be most desirable if some arrangement could be introduced by which all prepaid letters should have the advantage of early delivery, and that those which were unpaid should be delivered at a later hour. People would then see the importance of prepaying their letters. He was not sure how such an arrangement would affect the delivery of foreign letters; but if it could be introduced into large towns it would be a great boon to the public.

THE DUKE OF ARGYLL
said, he feared the noble Duke would be disappointed if he expected great advantage in respect to the acceleration of the delivery of letters from the suggestion he had mentioned; inasmuch as the number of unpaid letters bore a very small proportion indeed to those that were paid, and the time would be very little diminished by the subtraction of the unpaid letters.