POSTAGE STAMP SALES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 14 January 1931, Page 2

POSTAGE STAMP SALES

QUESTION OF COMMISSION

DEBATE OF 64 YEARS AGO Payment of commission on postage stamps sold by shopkeepers in conjunction with their business, which has been brought before the public by the Government’s decision not to renew licenses, was a subject discussed by Parliament as far back as 1866, probably before then. In the year named it was decided that the system of paying commission to vendors was worth while from the point of view of convenience. In 1866 a return was asked and tabled showing the expense incurred in the Postal Department in “allowances to subpostmasters and licensed vendors of stamps”—licenses which are now to bo discontinued. The result of this return, apparently, was that the system of paying commission to vendors and of salary to sub-postmasters was adopted again, after it had been discontinued a few years previously. The actual cost set out in the return was £1257. The Premier, Mr Stafford, in the absence of the Postmaster-General, said it was a voluntary act on the part of some vendors to sell stamps, but it was the duly of the country postmasters to do so. and it was. therefore, merely a question of salary in regard to them. ... . With regard to the others, he believed they would still sell stamps without commission, as it was not for that small amount —which would not cover the interest on the first outlay—that they did so. but to draw custom. Mr J. C. Richmond said that greatinconvenience did arise in Nelson, where he might say that postage stamps could onlv be. got at’the post office. When a mail was leaving the clerks were besieged for them, and the greatest annoyance was the consequence. Mr ,1. O’Neill said inconvenience arose from the new arrangement at Auckland, where those who had before sold stamps now positively refused to do so.