asked the Postmaster-General whether arrangements have been made to increase the facilities available to the public for obtaining stamps on Sundays; and whether, in view of the considerable volume of private correspondence which is despatched on this day of the week, he will endeavour to arrange for an early improvement of the position in this respect?

Inquiry made recently throughout the country indicated that complaints of difficulty in obtaining stamps on Sunday are few, and that it is usually possible to meet them by providing a stamp selling machine or issuing a stamp licence. I am not convinced that any general increase in facilities is warranted.

Will the right hon. and gallant Gentleman take note, on the other hand, of the fact that there is strong feeling against the growing tendency to do business on Sunday and that shop keepers and shop assistants are opposed to the idea of working seven days a week?

I realise the point of the hon. Gentleman, and it would be an advantage if the public bought their stamps on Saturday instead of Sunday.

May I ask how many assistants are employed inside stamp machines?

Could the right hon. and gallant Gentleman look into the possibility of increasing the supply of stamps in these machines, as my own experience is that towards the evening the stamps run out?

There are 8,000 stamp machines in use, but they suffer from the difficulty that sometimes the stamps get damaged and sometimes the kind of coins put by the public into the machines disagrees with them.