Post Office.

Part of Orders of the Day — Supply. – in the House of Commons at on 6 June 1934.

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Photo of Mr Ernest Bennett Mr Ernest Bennett , Cardiff Central

There is time to do much between now and 1936, but I will bear in mind what my hon. Friend says and bring it to my right hon. Friend's notice. The hon. Member for Faversham (Mr. Maitland) mentioned night telegraph letters. I do not think that service is sufficiently known. In the smoking room of a London Club the other night I found that not a quarter of the people had ever heard of it, and probably the smoking room of the House of Commons is just as badly informed. The hon. Member was not quite correct as to the number of words. It is not 30 but 36. Although this system was previously confined to a small number of towns, it was extended last year to practically every postal area in Great Britain, with the exception of a few remote islands. Letters are taken by telephone, or handed in up to midnight where there is an office open, and they are delivered the first thing in the morning, either by the ordinary postman or by special delivery. It is an extraordinarily useful item of reform. I hope hon. Members will make it known. We have lately started a publicity campaign in its favour, and the result has proved that advertisement does indeed pay. In the short period since the campaign started the use of the service has increased threefold. We have a very smart envelope specially designed for it. Its colour is green. We are engaged in another campaign at the moment for making its virtues known in Glasgow.

I think every one has been impressed by what has been said about air mails. It ought to be remembered that we have no air vessels of our own, and we have to consult the Air Ministry, but I do not believe that they are so devoid of experience, ability and public spirit as might be inferred from what has been said. There is proof that we are doing a good deal, and there is no need to be ashamed of many of the achievements of our Post Office. The Indian air mail was extended to Calcutta in July, to Rangoon in September, and to Singapore in December. We now reach Calcutta in seven days, Rangoon in nine, and Singapore in 10. With regard to speed, it is well to remember that passengers have to be carried as well as letters. We may in the future get up to the level of speed desired by some hon. Members opposite, but at present we are not doing so badly. New services are being instituted and by the end of this year or early next year we shall be reaching Australia via Singapore. The air mail traffic is going up by leaps and bounds, and we are not so devoid of success in that direction as some may have been led to suppose from some of the speeches to-day.

The hon. and gallant Member for Hertford (Sir M. Sueter) rated us rather thoroughly because we had not an air mail stamp. I do not know whether the hon. and gallant Member is a philatelist himself, but most of the agitation for an air mail stamp has come from philatelists. One argument up to the present in favour of an air mail stamp is that it would secure a certain amount of publicity for the air mail. I have in my own household experience of the enthusiasm of philatelists. But, apart from increasing the outlet for the zeal of the philatelist, what real benefit would an air mail stamp bring? It has been tried in two countries to my knowledge—in France and in Germany. What percentage of the letters carried by air in France, do hon. Members think have borne the air mail stamp? In France only 4 per cent. In Germany the figure is 9 per cent. India tried an air mail stamp for her letters and has dropped it altogether.

The difficulty, of course, is that if you introduce an air mail stamp you cannot prevent people putting on ordinary stamps. It is a great hardship to people accustomed to use ordinary stamps for their letters to be debarred from using those stamps for those letters which they send by air mail. So it is a question whether the Post Office is going to abandon its policy regarding special stamps. We are aware of exceptions in which special stamps have been issued. We issued some for Wembley in 1924 or 1925 and we also issued a special stamp when the Postal Union Congress met in 1929. It may happen that in the future we shall have to consider the question of a special stamp, but, if it is to be accepted, it will presumably be necessary to consider its design and to have a special committee consisting of representatives of various interests, as was done in the case of the Wembley and the Postal Union Congress stamps.