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1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
136
The
Post-Office
was
now
ripe
for
a
sweeping
change.
Mr.
Wallace,
the
member
for
Greenock,
had
frequently
called
the
attention
of
the
House
of
Commons
to
the
desirability
of
a
thorough
reform
in
the
Post-Office
system.
We
find
him
moving
at
different
times
for
Post-Office
returns.
For
instance,
in
August,
1833,
Mr.
Wallace[77]
brought
forward
a
subject
which,
he
said,
"involved
a
charge
of
the
most
serious
nature
against
the
Post-Office--viz.
that
the
Postmaster-General,
or
some
person
acting
under
his
direction,
with
the
view
of
discovering
a
fraud
upon
its
revenue,
has
been
guilty
of
a
felony
in
the
opening
of
letters."
He
moved
on
this
occasion
for
a
return
of
all
and
every
instruction,
bye-law,
or
authority,
under
which
postmasters
are
instructed
and
authorized,
or
have
assumed
a
right,
to
open,
unfold,
apply
strong
lamp-light
to,
or
use
any
of
them,
or
any
other
means
whatever,
for
ascertaining
or
reading
what
may
be
contained
in
words
or
in
figures
in
any
letter,
of
any
size
or
description,
being
fastened
with
a
wafer
or
wax,
or
even
if
totally
unfastened
by
either.
At
the
same
time
he
moved
for
a
return
of
all
Post-Office
prosecutions,[78]
especially
for
the
expenses
of
a
recent
case
at
Stafford.
In
reply,
the
Post-Office
answered
in
a
parliamentary
paper
that
no
such
instruction
had
ever
been
issued
from
the
General
Post-Office.
Every
person
in
the
Post-Office
was
required
to
take
the
oath
prescribed
by
the
Act
of
9
Queen
Anne,
c.
10.
It
was
added,
that
"whenever
it
is
noticed
that
a
letter
has
been
put
into
the
post
unfastened,
it
is
invariably
sealed
with
the
official
seal
for
security."
In
reply
to
the
other
return,
the
Post-Office
were
forced
to
admit
that
the
cost
of
prosecuting
a
woman
and
a
female
child
at
the
suit
of
the
Post-Office
at
the
late
Stafford
Assizes
exceeded
three
hundred
and
twenty
pounds.
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