§ 83. Sir W. Smithersasked the Postmaster-General whether his regulations apply equally to political slogans placed on the front or the back of envelopes; and whether it is a breach of the regulations to put such slogans on the back of envelopes.
§ Mr. Wilfred PalingI am glad to have this opportunity to say that the Post Office does not prohibit the use of political slogans as such on the envelopes of letters, provided that they do not impede or embarrass the officers of the Post Office in their work of dealing with the letters. The slogans can be placed anywhere on the back of the envelope. If they are to appear on the front of the envelope they must be placed in the left hand half so as not to impede the reading of the address. If the slogans are printed on labels resembling postage stamps they must be confined to the back of the envelope in order to avoid confusion between the slogan stamp and the postage stamp. I cannot sanction the inclusion of controversial slogans in the impressions of postage franking machines, because they are liable to be interpreted by members of the public as associating the Post Office with the slogan. In referring to political slogans, I rely, of course, on the good taste of the authors of the slogans to refrain from using phrases which might be regarded by those who read them as offensive or unnecessarily provocative; if such phrases were to come into use, I should probably be obliged to reconsider the whole question.