The British Post Office in Modern Times

THE BRITISH POST OFFICE IN MODERN TIMES For some years after the introduction of penny postage the post office prudently abstained from introducing any more f ar reaching reforms and devoted itself to developing its existing services. The effect of the new rate on the volume of corre spondence was immediate and continuous; and its effect was of course emphasized by the economic development of the country during the following years. In 1840 the number of letters posted was 169,000,00o, or more than double that posted in the previous year. In ten years it had quadrupled, and by 1870 had reached the total of nearly 800,000,000, or about ten times the figure of 1839. Although other and cheaper postage rates were intro duced after 1870 the id. letter continued to reflect the growing prosperity of the country and also the spread of education, and in spite of the check to development imposed by the war and the subsequent industrial depression it stood in 1928 at the total of 3,000,000,00o a year.

A lower initial rate was of course impracticable; and the only concessions which could be made to the public were increases in the initial weight and concessions in the rates charged on the heavier packets. The initial weight remained unchanged at the oz., adopted by Rowland Hill, for over 3o years; it was raised in 1871 to I oz., at which it remained until the Jubilee Reform of 1897, when the weight carried for id. was raised to 4 oz., the high est limit it had reached since the days of Dockwra's reform of 1680. The concessions on the heavier letters were of much less im portance; various adjustments were made in 1865, 1871, 1885 and finally in 1897, when the postage on all weights above the initial id. was fixed at id. per 2 oz., the letter post rate for heavier packets being thus reduced to the low rate of 4d. a lb.

The war, among its other retrogressive results, brought about the abolition of penny postage 78 years after its first establish ment. In 1918 the Government reluctantly decided to raise the letter rate to and in view of the continued advance in work ing costs it was again raised in 1920 to 2d. As soon as the peak period of prices was passed the rate was again reduced to at which it still stood at the beginning of 1929. The re-establish

ment of penny postage is a step which receives the careful con sideration of successive governments. The argument in its favour is that it would give a much needed stimulus to trade and would extend still further private correspondence ; the counter argument is that id. postage under present conditions would be consider 'ably cheaper by comparison with the general level of prices than id. postage before the war, and that the cost of the concession would be extremely heavy, as the postmaster general estimates that even after making full allowance for the probable growth of traffic, the loss to the post office revenue would be £5,500,000 a year. The post office surplus is a considerable item in the budget ; and it is for the chancellor of the exchequer to decide whether any reduction of revenue which can be contemplated should take the form of a reduction in postage rates or of some other concession to the taxpayer.

Newspapers.

For a long period, and even for some time after the establishment of penny postage, the post carried only two kinds of correspondence—letters and newspapers. The newspaper post had a varied and anomalous history. In 1840 newspapers were by statute carried free of postage. This, however, was not equivalent to the free postage which has been given on a more or less extended scale in other countries, as from the time of Queen Anne all newspapers had contributed to the revenue by the stamp duty which was levied on every copy. This state of things continued until 1855 when the duty was made optional, the privilege of free postage being continued to such newspapers and even to such periodicals as chose to pay it. Unstamped papers were forwarded by book post (see below). In 1870 the position was altered by act of parliament, which established a rate of Id. for each newspaper irrespective of weight, the privilege being confined to papers published at intervals of not more than 7 days and complying with certain specified conditions. The rate, like others, was raised after the war and has not yet been reduced. The principle of a flat rate irrespective of weight has been abandoned, and the initial rate of id. covers only a weight of 6 oz.