§ Sir J. Mellorasked the Postmaster-General whether his attention has been drawn to serious delay in the delivery of business letters posted a few days before Christmas; and whether he will arrange that at Christmas time letters bearing stamps of value three-halfpence or upwards shall have priority over matter bearing stamps of value one penny or less?
§ Sir W. WomersleyAll practicable steps are taken to ensure that correspondence posted at Christmas time is dealt with expeditiously and, although some delay as compared with normal delivery is scarcely avoidable, I am not aware that business letters generally suffered serious delay last Christmas. I am satisfied that it would be impracticable to arrange at Christmas time to give priority to letters bearing stamps of the value of three-halfpence or upwards over matter bearing stamps of the value of one penny or less.