Captain W. BEN Nasked the Postmaster-General (1) why payment is accepted for registration of letters in un- 1162W official envelopes if liability is not accepted when such letters are not delivered intact;
(2) Whether he can refund three 10s. currency notes which are missing trout a registered express letter sent to Mr. T. Barran, at Summerdown Camp, Eastbourne, on the 12th May?
§ Mr. ILLINGWORTHThe main object of registration is to secure special treatment for articles sent by post. Liability for compensation in the event of loss of any part of the contents of a registered letter packet is accepted by the Post Office only when certain fully advertised conditions are fulfilled One of these conditions is that if money (which term includes currency notes) is enclosed, an official registered letter envelope must be used. The official envelope has been specially designed to afford safeguards against tampering or loss of contents not afforded by ordinary envelopes. The currency notes sent to Mr. Barran at Summer-down Camp were not enclosed in an official registered letter envelope. It has not been possible to ascertain where the loss occurred, but I should be unable to consider any question of compensation even if it had occurred in the post.