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Postage Act 1795
(35 Geo 3 c.53, 5th May 1795)

An Act for further regulating the sending and receiving Letters free from the Duty of Postage; for allowing Non-commissioned Officers, Seamen, and private Men, in the Navy and Army, whilst on Service, to send and receive Letters at a low Rate of Postage; and for permitting Patterns and Samples of Goods to be transmitted by the Post at an easier Rate than is now allowed by Law.
[ 5th May 1795 ]

WHEREAS it is expedient further to regulate the sending and receiving Letters and Packets free from the Duty of Postage; 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 passing of this Act, no Letter or Packet whatsoever, sent by the Post from any Place within the Kingdom of Great Britain, directed by or to any Member of either of the two Houses of Parliament of Great Britain, shall be exempted from the Payment of the Duty of Postage, according to the Rates by Law established, if such Letter or Packet shall exceed one Ounce in Weight.

II. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That no Letter or Packet, directed by any Member of either of the said two Houses of Parliament, shall, from and after the passing of this Act, be exempted from the Payment of the Duty of Postage, unless the Member whose Name shall be indorsed thereon, pursuant to the Laws now in force, shall actually be in the Post Town into the Post Office of which every such Letter or Packet shall be put, or within the Limits of the Delivery of Letters for such Post Town, or within twenty Miles of such Post Town, on the Day, or on the Day before the Day, on which such Letter or Packet shall be put into the Post Office.

III. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That no Member of either of the said two Houses of Parliament shall be entitled or allowed to send by the Post, free from the Duty of Postage, superscribed or directed by him, more than ten Letters in any one Day; nor shall be entitled or allowed to receive by the Post, free from the Duty of Postage, more than fifteen Letters directed to him in any one Day.

IV. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That whenever the Number of Letters or Packets, not weighing more than one Ounce each, sent or received by any Member of either of the two Houses of Parliament in any one Day, shall exceed the Number exempted by this Act from the Duty of Postage, and the Rates of Postage on the said Letters or Packets respectively, or any of them, shall differ; then such of the said Letters or Packets as would be chargeable with a higher Rate of Postage than the Remainder, shall be included in the Number so exempted, in preference to any which would be chargeable with a lower Rate of Postage; and the Remainder of such Letters or Packets shall be chargeable with the several Rates of Postage respectively to which such Letters or Packets would now by Law be chargeable if sent or received by any Persons not entitled to send or receive Letters or Packets free from the Duty of Postage.

V. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That the several Persons who, by virtue of any Act or Acts of Parliament, are authorized, in Right of their respective Offices and Employments, to send and receive Letters free from Postage, and their Successors in such Offices and Employments, shall and may, during their Continuance in such Offices and Employments respectively, send and receive Letters and Packets, free from the Duty of Postage, in the same Manner, and under such Restrictions, as they now send and receive the same.

VI. Provided always, and it is hereby further enacted, That nothing herein contained shall extend to charge with the Duty of Postage, any printed Votes or Proceedings in Parliament, or printed Newspapers, being sent without Covers, or in Covers open at the Sides, which shall be signed on the Outside thereof by the Hand of any Member of Parliament, in such Manner as hath been heretofore practised, or which shall be directed to any Member of Parliament, at any Place whereof he shall have given Notice in Writing to the Postmaster General, or to his Deputy; but that all such Votes, Proceedings, and Newspapers, so sent and signed or directed as aforesaid, shall be received free of the Duty of Postage; any Thing in this, or any former Act, to the contrary notwithstanding.

VII. And whereas it is expedient that the Non-commissioned Officers, Seamen, and Privates, employed in his Majesty's Navy, Army, Militia, Fencible Regiments, Artillery, and Marines, should, whilst on Service, be permitted to send and receive single Letters by the Post, on their own private Concerns, at a low Rate of Postage; be it therefore further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That, from and after the passing of this Act, no single Letter sent by the Post from any Non-commissioned Officer, Seaman, or Private, employed in his Majesty's Navy, Army, Militia, Fencible Regiments, Artillery, or Marines, shall, with such Non-commissioned Officer, Seaman, or Private respectively, shall be employed on his Majesty's Service, and not otherwise, be charged and chargeable, by virtue of any Act of Parliament now in force, with the higher Rate of Postage than the Sum of one Penny for the Conveyance of each such Letter; such Rate of Postage than the Sum of one Penny for the Conveyance of each such Letter; such Rate of Postage of one Penny for each such Letter to be paid at the Time of putting the same into the Post Office of the Town or Place from whence such Letter is intended to be sent by the Post: Provided nevertheless, that no Letter or Letters sent by the Post, from any Non-commissioned Officer, Seaman, or Private, employed in his Majesty's Navy, Army, Militia, Fencible Regiments, Artillery, or Marines, shall be exempted from the Payment of the Rate of Postage chargeable upon Letters according to the Laws now in force, unless there shall be written upon every such Letter, in the Hand Writing of, and signed by the Commanding Officer for the Time being of the Ship or Vessel, or of the Corps, Regiment, or Detachment, to which such Non-commissioned Officer, Seaman, or Private, employed in his Majesty's Service, shall respectively belong, the Name of such Commanding Officer, and of the Ship, Vessel, Corps, Regiment, or Detachment, commanded by him.

VIII. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That, from and after the passing of this Act, no single Letter sent by the Post, directed to any Non-commissioned Officer, Seaman, or Private, employed in his Majesty's Navy, Army, Militia, Fencible Regiments, Artillery, or Marines, upon his own private Concerns only, whilst such respective Non-commissioned Officer, Seaman, or Private shall be employed on his Majesty's Service, and not otherwise, shall be charged or chargeable by virtue of any Act of Parliament now in force, with an higher Rate of Postage than the Sum of one Penny for each such Letter; which Sum of one Penny shall be paid at the Time of the Delivery thereof: Provided nevertheless, that no such Letter shall be exempted from the Rate of Postage chargeable upon Letters according to the Laws now in force, unless every such Letter shall be directed to such Non-commissioned Officer, Seaman, or Private, employed in his Majesty's Service, specifying the Ship, Vessel, Regiment, Troop, Corps, Company, or Detachment, to which he may belong; and provided also, that it shall not be lawful for the Deputy Postmaster of the Town or Place to which such Letter shall be sent to be delivered, to deliver such Letter to any Person except to the Non-commissioned Officer, Seaman, or Private, to whom such Letter shall be directed, or to any Person appointed to receive the same by the Commanding Officer of the Ship, Vessel, Regiment, Troop, Corps, Company, or Detachment, to which the Non-commissioned Officer, Seaman, or Private, to whom such Letter shall be directed, shall belong.

IX. And whereas by an Act passed in the twenty-sixth Year of the Reign of his late Majesty King George the Second, intituled, An Act for the more effectually preventing the fraudulent Removals of Tobacco by Land or Water, and for the Ease of the fair Trader in Tobacco; and for ascertaining the Rates payable for the Postage of certain Letters; and for amending and explaining the Laws relating to the Sale of Spirituous Liquors by Retail; it was declared and enacted, that, for every single Letter or Cover, containing one or more Paper or Papers, with Patterns, or containing one or more Pattern or Patterns of Cloth, Silk, or Stuff, or one or more Sample or Samples of any other Sort of Goods, or one or more Piece or Pieces of any other Sort of Thing inclosed therein, or affixed thereto, though not Paper, if the same together did not weigh an Ounce, the Rates payable for a double Letter should be paid, and no more: And whereas it may be expedient to permit Patterns of Cloth, Silk, Stuff, and other Goods, and small Samples of other Sorts of Things, to be transmitted by the Post at a more easy Rate of Postage: Be it therefore enacted, That, from and after the passing of this Act, every Packet or Cover containing therein, or having affixed thereto, one or more Paper or Papers with Patterns, or one or more Pattern or Patterns of Cloth, Silk, Stuff, or other Goods, or one or more Sample or Samples of any other Sort of Thing, not exceeding together one Ounce in Weight, shall be chargeable and charged with no higher Rate of Postage than as a single Letter, so as every such Packet or Cover shall be sent open at the Sides, and without any Letter or Writing in, upon, or with such Packet or Cover, other than the Name or Names of the Person or Persons sending the same, and the Place or Places of his or their Abode, and the Prices of the Articles contained therein, or affixed thereto.