HC Deb 22 February 1921 vol 138 cc783-4W
Sir S. JOHNSON

asked the Postmaster-General whether he will consider the expediency, in the interest of English traders, of modifying the regulations in connection with the cash-on-delivery system as applied to foreign parcels post so as to allow the senders of parcels to procure the delivery of the same to a person substituted for the original addressee on payment of postal fees and Customs charges only, without regard to the sum which would have been demanded from the original addressee?

Mr. ILLINGWORTH

In the cash-on-delivery service formerly maintained between the United Kingdom and certain British possessions the sender of a cash-on-delivery parcel had the option of cancelling or reducing the trade charge after the parcel was posted. As the option was seldom exercised, comparatively little use was made of the special machinery which it was necessary to set up for dealing with such cases; and, with the concurrence of the Foreign and Colonial Postal Administrations concerned, it was decided that the maintenance or this exceptional procedure in the simplified and extended cash-on-delivery service which was introduced on the 1st of January, 1920, could not be justified.