Post Office Act 1969
1969 c. 48
An Act to abolish the office of master of the Post Office, distribute the business conducted by the holder thereof amongst authorities constituted for the purpose and make provision consequential on the abolition of that office and the distribution of the business so conducted; to amend, replace or repeal certain provisions of the enactments relating to posts, telegraphs and savings banks; to amend the law relating to stamp duty; and to empower the Treasury to dispose of their interest in the shares of Cable and Wireless Limited.
[25th July 1969]
4 Transfer to the Minister of the Postmaster General’s functions under section 6 of the Commonwealth Telegraphs Act 1949.
The functions which are vested in the Postmaster General by virtue of section 6 of the Commonwealth Telegraphs Act 1949 (provisions as to pensions of employees of Cable and Wireless Limited and certain other persons) shall, on the appointed day, vest in the Minister; and, accordingly, as from that day, references in that section to the Postmaster General shall be construed as referring to the Minister.
5 Transfer to the Minister of the Postmaster General’s power to make orders under the Recorded Delivery Service Act 1962.
The power conferred by subsection (3) of section 1 of the Recorded Delivery Service Act 1962 on the Postmaster General by order to make such amendments of enactments contained in local or private Acts as appear to him to be necessary or expedient in consequence of subsection (1) of that section shall, on the appointed day, vest in the Minister; and, accordingly, as from that day, the reference to the Postmaster General in the said subsection (3) and the reference to him in subsection (4) of that section (which lays on him a duty of consultation before making an order under subsection (3)) shall each be construed as referring to the Minister.
20 Rights and liabilities as to conveyance of mails.
(1) On the appointed day—
(a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(b) the rights which, by virtue of sections 33, 34, 36(1) and 42 of the principal Act (which contain provisions enabling him to compel railway undertakers to undertake the conveyance of mail-bags by train and by ships which are owned or worked by them or in the case of which they are parties to arrangements for the use, maintenance or working thereof) he enjoys immediately before that day and the countervailing obligations with respect to payment of remuneration for services performed which, immediately before that day, are, by virtue of sections 35 and 36(2) of the principal Act, incumbent on him shall become those of the Post Office;
(c) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(d) the obligation to him which, by virtue of subsection (1) of section 38 of the principal Act, is, immediately before that day, incumbent on railway undertakers to perform services with respect to the conveyance of mail-bags and the other matters mentioned in that subsection and the right which, by virtue of subsection (2) of that section, they enjoy, immediately before that day, to receive from him remuneration for services performed shall respectively become an obligation to the Post Office and a right against it.
(2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
22 Rights and liabilities, &c., arising out of Acts authorising the acquisition of land or the execution of works.
(1) Any provision of the Sites Acts, the Post Office Extension Act 1865, the Manchester Post Office Act 1876, the Post Office (London) Railway Act 1913, the Post Office (Site and Railway) Act 1954, the Post Office Works Act 1959 or the Post Office Subway Act 1966 which is in force immediately before the appointed day and contains references to the Postmaster General shall, so far as necessary for preserving its effect on and after that day, have effect as from that day as if those references were references to the Post Office.
(2) As from the appointed day, any rights or powers vested in, or exercisable by, the Post Office under the enactments relating to telegraphs in respect of works of any kind whatsoever executed under those enactments shall extend to, and may be exercised by it in respect of, the portions of the tube constructed by the Pneumatic Despatch Company, Limited, that vest in the Post Office by virtue of section 16 of this Act.
(3) Section 20 of the Bristol Cattle Market Act 1930 (which empowers the Postmaster General, amongst others, to enter into and carry out agreements with reference to any of the matters referred to in that Act or the agreements mentioned in that section) shall, as from the appointed day, have effect with the substitution, for the reference to the Postmaster General, of a reference to the Post Office.
(4) Section 16 of the City of London (Various Powers) Act 1950 (which provides for the continuance of the making, by the Postmaster General, the Mayor and commonalty and citizens of the city of London acting by the common council and the Mercers’ Company of certain periodic payments to the incumbents and clerks of certain benefices in the city, being payments originally required to be made under enactments repealed by that Act) shall, as from the appointed day, have effect as if, in Schedule 1 to that Act, for references to the Postmaster General, there were substituted references to the Post Office; and the rights of indemnity in favour of the Postmaster General that are saved by the proviso to section 18 of that Act shall, as from that day, enure for the benefit of the Post Office and the charges on property to secure the payment of money payable to the Postmaster General in respect of indemnities so saved which are themselves also saved by that proviso shall, as from that day, have effect accordingly.
(5) The reference in subsection (1) above to the Sites Acts is a reference to the Acts passed during the years 1885 to 1938 (both inclusive) the short title of each of which consists of the words “The Post Office (Sites) Act” followed by the year in which it was passed.