Orders of the Day — Gift Parcels (Postmark)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 21 October 1949.

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Photo of Mr John Boyd-Carpenter Mr John Boyd-Carpenter , Kingston upon Thames 12:00, 21 October 1949

I am very glad of this opportunity to seek to clear up the unsatisfactory position in which the question of the franking of British overseas mail with a certain slogan was left at Question Time on Wednesday last. I am very grateful to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food for arranging to be present at what I am afraid is inconveniently short notice, and I appreciate her courtesy in that respect. Perhaps I ought to say, as the matter arises out of a considerable number of questions directed at the Minister, that the right hon. Gentleman was good enough to inform me he is not able to be present for perfectly valid reasons.

The facts of the matter are not, up to a point, disputed. During the month of August, a substantial section of the postal mail despatched from this country bore, beside the cancellation of the stamp, the words: "Britain says 'Thank you for food gifts.'" When that matter was drawn to my attention I put down a Question to the Postmaster-General, but the right hon. Gentleman, with perhaps understandable celerity, transferred it to the Ministry of Food, who I understand accept full responsibility for this matter.

I desire, in trying to get this matter cleared up, to restrict the criticisms I propose to make to the comparatively limited compass of the question of the sending of letters so franked to a limited number of countries. I do not propose to widen the Debate by discussing the question whether the stamping of slogans on this sort of mail in general is a good or a bad thing. For myself, I think it is largely a matter of taste, and that it is a slightly undignified procedure. I do not propose to level any serious criticism on the use of this method insofar as mail directed to the British Empire or the United States is concerned. I think there is no hon. Member who does not immensely appreciate the assistance that these countries have given to us in this matter or that any expression of thanks, however ineptly done, should not itself in that direction be a matter of criticism., But the matter does become a little more important when such mail is directed not only to the Empire or the United States, or other generous overseas friends, but to countries with which we were not so long ago at war, to countries which themselves suffered heavily during the war and to countries from which it would be ludicrous to expect any degree of assistance to be afforded us.

It is certainly the case that since I raised this matter I have had a number of instances drawn to my attention of the unfavourable reaction of our own people, who actually reside in these countries. I do not propose to enter into very serious argument with the right hon. Lady whether the description "begging" is appropriately attached to this selection. I think it is a matter of interpretation whether the ostentatious putting of a printed slogan, "Britain says 'Thank you for food gifts'" on letters does or does not constitute a request for further gifts.

I am myself inclined to the view expressed at Question Time on Wednesday by the hon. Member for West Woolwich (Mr. Berry), that gratitude has sometimes been interpreted as a lively sense of favours to come. I should be glad if the right hon. Lady will explain whether, in her view, this slogan merely amounted to an austere and abstract expression of thanks for events past, or whether the initiative of her Department in requesting the Post Office so to stamp the mail was connected with the hope that the flow of these gifts would continue. When the Minister himself said on Wednesday: I cannot agree that to say 'Thank you' for something is to beg for something." [OFFICIAL REPORT, 19th October, 1949; Vol. 468, c. 577.] I do not think that that quite squared with the facts, and we shall, therefore, be glad to hear the right hon. Lady on the matter.

I hope the right hon. Lady will also deal with one or two points with which, for one reason or another, her right hon. Friend was not able to deal on Wednesday. First, I should like to know whether, when her Department made their request to the Post Office, they made an inquiry whether it was technically possible to discriminate as to the countries to which this slogan should be sent. Did her Department say to the Post Office, "We want the slogans sent to the following countries only?" Did they inquire whether it was possible to discriminate, or ask the Post Office to send this slogan all over the world? Although the Minister was asked by several Members on both sides of the House to answer this precise question, he was not able to do so on Wednesday.

I should like to know whether this procedure is still being used. I have not come across any instance later than August, but there is, naturally, a time lag in these matters coming to notice and no doubt the right hon. Lady knows whether a process is still continuing. If, as I believe to be the case, it has now stopped I would very much welcome an assurance that it will not be resumed, at any rate so far as mail to Germany and Italy in particular are concerned. One is entitled to ask what are the intentions of her Department for the future?

That is the real substance of the matter, and it is not one of party importance. Indeed, from my recollection of Question time on Wednesday the harshest epithet about these proceedings fell not from the lips of any of my hon. Friends, but from the hon. Lady the Member for Epping (Mrs. Manning). If the right hon. Lady the Parliamentary Secretary had been present on that occasion she would undoubtedly have formed the conclusion that it was the general feeling of the House of Commons that the sending of mail of this sort, certainly to Italy and Germany, was inappropriate and an unsuitable action on the part of any British Government.

I do not want unduly to labour the matter, because we are all very conscious of the fact that there are infinitely graver matters at the back of our minds at this moment. On the other hand, it is not right to allow something which affects the dignity of this country abroad to go unchallenged. I think it is very difficult to dispute that the sending of a slogan of this sort to countries with whom we were at war only five years ago, to countries which have been in receipt of aid from us, as Germany and Italy have, and to countries, particularly Germany and Italy, which have received large payments of aid from the United States, is quite inappropriate to the standing and position of this country in the world.

Hon. Members will agree that for all our troubles and difficulties we are still a great Power with a great responsibility in the world, and to see our country, even though in a trifling thing, appearing to demean itself in the eyes of those with whom recently we were at war and over whom we were victorious, seems to be a wrong thing to do. This House is entitled not only to say that that was a wrong thing to do, but, far more important, to obtain from the Ministers responsible a firm assurance that it shall not occur again.