asked the Postmaster-General whether, having now received the envelope addressed to T. A. Rees, Esquire, town clerk of Merthyr Tydfil, opened by the postal authorities, he is now prepared to say what are the reasons for such action; and what steps he proposes to take to prevent this interference with private correspondence?

The letter was received from France with a batch of letters relating to a lottery, the transmission of which through the post in this country is illegal; and, as was explained on the slip which was placed inside the envelope for the addressee's information, the letter was inadvertently stopped. Many thousands of lottery letters have to be dealt with, and, although every care is exercised, I am afraid that occasional error is unavoidable.