§ Flight-Lieutenant Parkinasked the Assistant Postmaster-General if he will consider sending once a week to remote villages without a post office, a van equipped as a mobile office to handle the more important branches of G.P.O. service, including particularly that of old age pensions.
§ Mr. BurkeNo. Sir: It has always been our object to provide a post office at every village of a reasonable size which is situated more than two miles from another post office. The generous scale380W on which post offices are provided may be judged from the fact that there are nearly 25,000 post offices in this country. We cannot undertake to bring full post office facilities to every hamlet, but all rural postmen carry and sell stamps, accept parcels and registered letters, and by arrangement procure postal orders. Infirm old age pensioners can appoint an agent. The cost of providing mobile post offices as suggested by the hon. Member would, in my opinion, be prohibitive, but if he has any special case of difficulty' in mind and will let me have particulars I will gladly look into it.