I beg to ask the Postmaster General whether he is aware that the Government of Ceylon has introduced a reply letter-card for the inland service of the island, so that a person writing a letter to another may enclose a letter-card for a reply; whether the French Government supplies a similar reply letter-card for inland use; whether the Ceylonese Government was the first British Government to adopt an international postcard and an inland cash on delivery parcel post; and whether he will direct that a reply letter-card, similar to the French and Ceylonese, shall be sold for the inland service of the United Kingdom, or, in the alternative, that two sizes of letter-card shall be issued, one of which can be enclosed in the other?
It is the fact, that the Government of Ceylon has introduced a reply letter-card for the inland service of the island, and that a similar reply letter-card for inland use is supplied by the French Post Office. In this country letter-cards do not find much favour with the public, and lately there has been no increase in the demand for them. I do not think, therefore, that there would be such a demand for a reply letter-card as would warrant its issue by the Department. The public are, of course, at liberty to use privately manufactured letter-cards with a penny adhesive stamp. I do not know whether Ceylon was the first British Possession to adopt an international postcard and an inland cash-on-delivery parcel post.