Postage Act 1784
(24 Geo 3 s.2 c.8)

An Act for establishing certain Regulations concerning the Portage and Conveyance of Letters and Packets by the Post between Great Britain and Ireland.

'WHEREAS by an Act, made in the twenty-fourth Year of the Reign of his present Majesty, intituled, An Act for establishing certain Regulations concerning the Portage and Conveyance of Letters and Packets by the Post between Great Britain and Ireland, it is enacted, That, immediately from and after the Establishment of a General Post Office in Ireland by the Authority of the Parliament of that Kingdom, so much of an Act made in the fourth Year of the Reign of his present Majesty, intituled, An Act for preventing Frauds and Abuses in relation to the sending and receiving of Letters and Packets free from the Duty of Postage, as relates to Letters and Packets passing by the Post, free from the Duty of Postage, from Great Britain to Ireland, and from Ireland to Great Britain, shall be repealed: And whereas certain Persons who, by virtue of their respective Offices in Great Britain and Ireland, now send and receive Letters and Packets which relate to the Business of their respective Offices, free from the Duty of Postage, from Great Britain to Ireland, and from Ireland to Great Britain, will, by the said recited Act of the twenty-fourth Year of his present Majesty's Reign, upon the Establishment of a General Post Office in Ireland, be deprived from sending and receiving Letters and Packets free from the Duty of Postage: And whereas the publick Business makes it expedient that such Letters and Packets should pass free of Postage from any Part of Great Britain to Ireland, and from Ireland to any Part of Great Britain;' be it therefore enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That from and after the Establishment of a General Post Office in Ireland, it shall and may be lawful to and for certain Persons who, by virtue of their respective Offices in Great Britain and Ireland, send and receive Letters and Packets, free from the Duty of Postage, under the said recited Act of the fourth Year of his present Majesty's Reign, or under any other Act or Acts passed since the passing of the said Act, and for his Majesty's Postmaster General of the Kingdom of Ireland, the Secretary of the General Post Office of Ireland, and the Surveyors of the said General Post Office, and for the Under Secretary and First Clerk for the military Department of the Office of the Chief Secretary of the Lieutenant General or other Chief Governor or Governors of the said Kingdom, all for the Time being, to send and receive, by the Post, Letters and Packets from any Part of Great Britain to Ireland, and from Ireland to any Part of Great Britain, free from the Duty of Postage, for and on account of the Post Office of Great Britain: Provided that all such Letters and Packets so sent shall relate to the Business of their respective Offices, and that there shall be certified, on the Outside of such Letters and Packets, under the Hand Writing of such Officers respectively, to be on his Majesty's Service ; and that such Letters and Packets shall be sealed with the Seal of the Office or Officer sending the same: And in case any such Officers shall receive, under Cover to them, any Letters or Packets intended for or directed to other Persons, all such Officers are hereby authorised and required to send the same to the General Post Office in London or Dublin, in order that such Letters and Packets may be charged with the Duty of Postage; it being the true Intent and Meaning of this Act, that the Privilege of sending and receiving Letters and Packets by such Officers shall extend to such Letters and Packets only as relate to the Business of their respective Office.