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Postage Act 1804
(44 Geo 3 c.84, 20th July 1804)

An Act to permit certain Persons in the Office of Ordnance, and the Quarter Master General, to send and receive Letters free from the Duty of Postage; and to enable the Board of Ordnance, the Adjutant General, the Quarter Master General, and the Barrack Master General, to authorize Persons in their Offices to send Letters free from the said Duty.
[20th July 1804]

'WHEREAS an Act was made in the forty-second Year of the Reign of his present Majesty, intituled, An Act to authorize the sending and receiving of Letters and Packets, Votes, Proceedings in Parliament, and printed Newspapers, by the Post, free from the Duty of Postage, by the Members of the two Houses of Parliament of the United Kingdom, and by certain Publick Officers therein named; and for reducing the Postage on such Votes, Proceedings, and Newspapers when sent by any other Person: And whereas the Privilege of sending and receiving Letters and Packets free from the Duty of Postage is not by the said Act extended to the Master General of his Majesty's Ordnance, to either of the Secretaries of the said Master General, to the Secretary to the Board of Ordnance, to the Inspector General of Fortifications, or to the Quarter Master General of his Majesty's Forces, who, by virtue of their respective Offices, necessarily send and receive many Letters and Packets relating to the publick Concerns of this Kingdom: May it therefore please your Majesty that it may be enacted;' and be it 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 passing of this Act, the Master General of his Majesty's Ordnance, one of the Secretaries to the said Master General, the Secretary to the Board of Ordnance, the Inspector General of Fortifications, and the Quarter Master General of his Majesty's Forces, all for the Time being, shall and may send and receive Letters and Packets free from the Duty of Postage, in the same Manner and under such Restrictions as the Commander in Chief of his Majesty's Forces for the Time being, and other Officers of his Majesty's Forces, therein specified, are thereby permitted, in respect of their Offices, to send and receive Letters and Packets free from the Duty of Postage.

II. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful to and for the Lieutenant General and principal Officers of his Majesty's Ordnance to authorize and direct certain Persons, not exceeding two in Number, in their Office or Department; and to and for the Adjutant General of his Majesty's Forces for the Time being, to authorize and direct certain Persons, not exceeding two in Number, in his Office or Department; and to and for the said Quarter Master General of his Majesty's Forces for the Time being, to authorize and direct certain Persons, not exceeding two in Number, in his Office or Department; and to and for the Barrack Master General of his Majesty's Forces for the Time being, to authorize and direct one Person in his Office or Department (a List of whose Names shall from Time to Time be transmitted to the General Post Offices in London and Dublin), severally and respectively to make and subscribe an Indorsement upon Letters and Packets, to be sent by the Post free from their respective Offices, which shall concern the publick Business of such Offices or Departments, signifying that such Letters and Packets are upon his Majesty's Service, which Letters and Packets, being so subscribed and sealed with the respective Seals of the said Lieutenant General and principal Officers of his Majesty's Ordnance for the Time being, the said Adjutant General for the Time being, the said Quarter Master General for the Time being, and the said Barrack Master General for the Time being respectively, shall and may be sent and conveyed by the Post free from the Duty of Postage.

III. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That if any Person authorized to make and subscribe such Indorsement shall knowingly make the same, or procure the same to be made, upon any Letter or Packet which does not really concern the Business of the Office or Department to which he shall belong, such Person shall for the first Offence forfeit and pay the Sum of fifty Pounds, to be recovered and applied in such Manner as by the Act of the ninth Year of the Reign of Queen Anne, for establishing a General Post Office, is directed with respect to the Penalties inflicted by the said Act; and for the second Offence shall be dismissed from his Office.