FRANK, FRANKING LETTERS. On the introduction of the uniform penny-postage on all inland letters in 1840 (3 and 4 Vict. c. 96), the privilege formerly enjoyed by peers and members of the house of commons, and many official persons, of as it was called, that is, sending and receiving letters duty free, was abolished; the statute 7 Will. Dr. and 1 Vict. c. 32, by which this privilege had been recently regu lated, being repealed by s. 68 of the first-mentioned act. The privilege was claimed by the house of commons in 1660, when the post-office was first legally established (see POST-OFFICE), but it was afterwards dropped upon a private assurance from the crown that it should be allowed to members. The postmaster-general accordingly constantly issued a warrant directing the allowance, till the privilege was expressly conferred by statute 4 Geo. III. c. 24. In the days of franking, each member of either house of parliament was entitled to send 10 letters every day, not exceeding an ounce in weight each, to any place in the United Kingdom, and to receive 15, free. As it was not neces sary that the letter should be either written by or to the privileged person, the privilege was greatly abused; and most persons whose memories reach back to the period when it existed, will remember family arrangements for taking advantage of it, by which the whole correspondence of the kindred, connections, and even the intimate acquaintances of a peer, or a member of parliament, was in general carried on duty free. Up to the
passing of the last-mentioned statute (12th July, 1837), all that was requisite was that the member should write his name or title on the corner of the letter. From this time, however, till the abolition of the privilege, it was required that time whole address should be Written by the member; that lie should add not only his name, but the name of the post-town, and the day of the month; and what was most troublesome of all, that the letter should 'be posted on tbe day on which it was written', or the following day, and in a post-town within 20 m. of which the person franking was then actually resident. By this cruel regulation (7 Will. IV. and 1 Viet. c. 35, s. 9), the kindly cus tom of giving franks to friends, or leaving them with them for future use, was rudely interfered with, and the public mind reconciled to the final abolition of what many regarded as a time-honored abuse.