Mr. Lucasasked the Postmaster-General whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that a batch of eight letters carrying 2d. stamps which were despatched by Messrs. Brentnall and Cleland Limited by special collection at Brentford at 4.10 p.m. on Tuesday, 2nd July last, took, with one exception, more than thirty-six hours to reach their destinations in the home counties; whether he is satisfied that this represents an adequate speed of delivery of mail; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MarplesThese items were part of a batch of 3,500 pre-paid at the minimum printed paper rate and collected from Messrs. Brentnall and Cleland's premises on 2nd July. One of the published conditions of the printed paper service is that printed papers pre-paid at the minimum rate are always liable to be put aside where necessary until fully-paid letters have been disposed of. An exceptional volume of fully-paid letters had to be dealt with during the afternoon and evening of 2nd July, and in spite of the best efforts of the staff I am sorry94W that it proved necessary to set aside for sorting later many of the printed paper items, including no doubt the seven in question, in order not to delay the fully-paid letters.