The revenue from the Post Office was surrendered by the Crown at the beginning of George the Third's reign in exchange for a Civil List from the Aggregate Fund as it was then called.[644] While the Post Office remained in the hands of the King, it was only by special grant on his part that the members of Parliament had been allowed to send and receive letters free. Accordingly in 1763, an act was passed for the purpose of giving parliamentary sanction to the privilege. This act repeated the principal points in the King's proclamation and in the Parliament's previous resolutions on the subject. All letters or packets sent to or by the King, the ministers and the higher Post Office officials were to go free. The ministers might appoint others to frank their letters, whose names must be forwarded to the Postmaster-General. Those sending letters free must sign their names on the outside and themselves write the address. No letters to or from any member of Parliament should go free unless they were sent during the session or within forty days before or after, and the whole superscription must be in the member's own hand or directed to him at his usual place of residence or at the House. All letters in excess of two ounces in weight must pay postage. Printed votes, proceedings in Parliament, and newspapers should go free when sent to a member or signed on the outside by him, provided they were sent without covers or with covers open at the ends. The privileges of franking votes, proceedings in Parliament, and newspapers, were continued to the clerks in the Post Office and in the Secretaries of State's offices. The Postmasters-General and their deputies were given authority to search newspapers which had no covers or covers open at the ends and to charge them if there were writing or enclosures in them. Finally, any person who counterfeited a member's name on any letter or package for the purpose of avoiding the payment of postage, was guilty of felony and liable to transportation for seven years.[645] [644] Joyce, p. 189. [645] 4 Geo. III, c. 24. The year following the passing of this act, the House of Commons called for returns relating to the franking system. Besides the members of Parliament, the ministers, and the Post Office officials, to whom the franking privilege had been granted by the King's warrant and by the late act, almost all who were in any way connected with the Government claimed the right to send or receive letters free, even to the Deputy Serjeant-at-Arms. The amount which newspapers would have paid if there had been no franking privilege was first given for the week ending March 13, 1764. _Members'_ _States'_ _Post Office Clerks'_ £465 £310 £1055