dwellers in the vicinity.[538] It facilitated both local intercourse
and, through its connection with the General Post, general intercourse
with all parts of the country. It was also advantageous in a way which
was not satisfactory to the Postmaster-General. For some years before
its establishment there had been much difficulty from the evasion of
postage resulting from the illicit transmission of letters. Carriers,
especially, made a business of the conveyance of letters. The difficulty
had been so serious that in the reigns both of Charles II and of James
II special officers had been appointed whose duty it was to search any
person or vehicle suspected of carrying clandestine mails. The
establishment of the penny post led to a very large development of this
traffic. Previously, when the carriers arrived with the letters, there
was no means at their disposal for effecting distribution and delivery
within London, other than by themselves delivering the letters
individually, or by employing special messengers, or, in the last
resort, by employing the General Post, to avoid whose charge was the
whole object of entrusting letters to the carriers. The penny post
removed this difficulty, and the public were not slow to avail
themselves of the opportunity afforded.[539]
The penny post did not, however, mark the limit of possibility in the
way of cheap postal facilities. In 1708 Charles Povey established a
halfpenny post in London, and found this low rate profitable. His
undertaking, like that of Dockwra, proved to be an infringement of the
monopoly of the Postmasters-General, and was suppressed within a few
months, although Povey was very reluctant to discontinue his
service.[540]
The London penny post was for a long period the only local post in the
kingdom. Its advantages were, however, generally recognized, and the
Post Office Act of 1765[541] gave to the Postmasters-General power to
establish penny posts in any town where that course seemed to them
expedient. Under this authority numerous penny posts were established in
all parts of the country. As many as 202 such penny posts were
established between 1830 and 1837. They were established only when it
could be reasonably anticipated that the yield of the penny postage
would cover the expenses of the service; but when once established they
were not usually discontinued, even if the revenue fell below the
expenses.[542] Like the London penny post, these local services included
the area surrounding the town in each case. For transmission within a
penny post area the rate of postage was 1d.; for transmission to another
such area the general rate was charged in addition; and another penny
was charged in respect of the second penny post.
The conveyance of parcels ceased in 1765. The Act of that year[543]
forbade the transmission by the penny post of any packet over 4 ounces
in weight unless it had passed, or was intended afterwards to pass, by
the General Post. During all this period, however, the people of London
enjoyed an efficient postal service which in point of lowness of charges
was in advance of anything they have enjoyed since, unless the
privileges of the postcard and the halfpenny post, that is, of a rate
half the minimum (and only) rate of the penny post, can be set against
the cheap transmission of considerable packages by the old service.
A further Act of 1794[544] empowered the Postmasters-General at their
discretion to extend the limits of the post beyond the 10-mile circle
prescribed by the Act of 1711. No additional postage was imposed on
letters delivered beyond the 10-mile circle. Under the Act of 1730 the
charge would be 2d. An additional rate of 1d. was, however, imposed on
all letters posted within the extended limits and beyond the 10-mile
circle; and also on all letters posted without the original limits of
the penny post and delivered within those limits, i.e. the cities of
London and Westminster, and the borough of Southwark, with their
suburbs. By this Act prepayment of postage, hitherto compulsory in the
penny post, was made optional.
An Act of 1801[545] raised to 2d. the rate for letters passing by the
penny post, whether or not they were to pass by the General Post, within
the original limits of the penny post. For letters passing by the penny
post, posted or delivered outside the original limits, no additional
rate was prescribed. The charge was already 2d.; and the rate of
postage on letters passing by the London local post therefore now became
uniformly 2d. Henceforward the service was known as the "twopenny post."
The Act of 1801 contained an important clause (clause 5) of general
application, providing that the Postmasters-General might at discretion
undertake the conveyance and delivery of letters "directed to persons
abiding in towns, villages, and places (not being post-towns)," for such
sums as might be agreed upon between the Postmasters-General and the
inhabitants. Under this provision it was found possible to extend the
service to a considerable number of places.[546]
An Act of 1805[547] imposed an additional charge of 1d., making 3d. in
all, on letters sent by the twopenny post and not passing by the General
Post, directed to or sent from places beyond the limits of the General
Post delivery; and on every letter passing by the General Post and
directed to places beyond the limits of the General Post delivery, and
delivered by the twopenny post, an additional charge of 2d.[548] There
were now, in reality, two local posts in the London area--the twopenny
post, for letters transmitted between places within the limits of the
delivery of the General Post; and the threepenny post, for letters
directed to or sent from places within the limits of the local service,
but beyond the limits of the General Post delivery. In 1831 the limits
of delivery of the twopenny post were extended to include all places
within a radius of 3 miles of the General Post Office; and in 1833 the
limits of the threepenny post were extended to include all places beyond
the 3-mile limit, and not exceeding 12 miles from the General Post
Office.[549] No further modifications of importance were made before the
establishment of uniform penny postage.
The introduction of a uniform rate of postage for the whole country of
1d., only half the lowest rate which had been charged in the London
local post, obviously made unnecessary the continuance of that post, and
also of the penny posts scattered up and down the country; or rather
extended to the whole country the benefit of rates based on items of
local cost only, since the system of uniform postage irrespective of
distance rests on the recognition of the preponderating cost of the
local or terminal services, and the relatively insignificant cost per
letter of the service--conveyance from place to place--which depends on
the distance of transmission.
Financially the London penny and twopenny posts were always successful.
Under the penny rate the profits had approached half the gross
receipts--in 1800 they were 43 per cent.--and under the twopenny rate at
once rose to more than 60 per cent., in 1825 reaching 67 per cent. The
net revenue, which in 1801 under the penny rate was [L]16,286, had in 1837
under the twopenny rate risen to [L]73,334.[550]
CANADA
Special local rates have from quite early dates been in operation in
America. If in England the lowest rate fixed for General Post letters
had been found too high to afford reasonable accommodation for the
public in London and other cities, it may well be imagined that the
lowest rate in Canada, gauged as it was to the needs of a service which
should cover a country of vast area and ill-provided with roads, would
be found altogether high for local letters. Moreover, in most places no
sort of delivery service existed. Local letters could only be placed in
the post office to be called for by the persons to whom they were
addressed. In Canada the actual cost of the conveyance of the mail was
consequently disproportionately high compared with other expenses of the
service, and the justice of a lower rate for such letters as obtained no
benefit from that expenditure naturally suggested itself. The lowest
rate fixed by the Act of 1765 for transmission within Canada of a single
letter was 4d., and, rather than charge such a rate on local letters,
the deputies in Nova Scotia allowed such letters to be deposited in the
post office free.
At Confederation a special rate for local letters of 1 cent per 1/2
ounce was established. At this time there was still no authorized
house-to-house delivery of letters in any part of Canada, and local
letters were actually what they are always termed, viz. "drop" letters.
They were letters dropped into the post office letter-box and handed out
at the office to the addressee on application. When in 1875 delivery by
letter-carrier was introduced in certain towns, the drop-letter rate was
not disturbed. It was thought, however, that a postage charge of 1 cent
was not sufficient to cover the cost of the service of delivery at the
place of address, performed by an expensive establishment of
letter-carriers; and in 1889, on that ground, though much against the
wishes of the mercantile community, the rate was raised to 2 cents an
ounce in cities and towns where the system of delivery by letter-carrier
was established, the existing rate of 1 cent per 1/2 ounce being
continued in other cities and towns.
The ordinary letter rate was still 3 cents. This change therefore left
all local letters with a lower rate than ordinary letters.[551]
The 2-cent rate proved to be too high. Much dissatisfaction resulted,
and evasions were constant. In defiance of the law, which conferred on
the Postmaster-General the monopoly of the carriage of letters,
merchants made arrangements for the transmission and delivery by their
private messengers of their letters for local delivery. The evil assumed
such proportions that the suppression of the private carriage of local
letters was deemed out of question, and the Government concluded that
the only satisfactory solution of the difficulty was the re-introduction
of the general 1 cent drop-letter rate.[552] So great was the number of
drop letters sent otherwise than through the Post Office that no actual
loss of revenue was anticipated from a reduction of the rate, which
should bring back those letters to the post. This anticipation was more
than realized. In a very short time after the passing of the Act of 1898
legalizing the reduction to 1 cent, the gross revenue from local letters
surpassed that obtained under the 2-cent rate.
FRANCE
In 1658 a local service (_la petite poste_) was established in Paris by
M. Velayer. He obtained from the King the exclusive privilege of
erecting letter-boxes, which were opened three times daily, in various
parts of the city,[553] and set up an office in the royal palace at
which tickets bearing the words "Port-pay['e] le ... du ... de l'an 1653"
might be purchased at the price of a sou. No money was paid to the
letter-carrier by persons posting or receiving letters. A label was
affixed to the letter, which was then delivered without further
charge.[554] The service was not a success and was discontinued.
In 1759 a local postal service was re-established in Paris by M. de
Chamousset. The new service was avowedly in imitation of the London
penny post. The rate was 2 sous for a letter not exceeding 1 ounce in
weight, delivered in Paris, and 3 sous if delivered in surrounding
villages not served by the general post. This venture proved more
successful than the earlier service of M. Velayer. At the outset it
employed about two hundred men, and the profits for the first year were
50,000 livres. But its founder, M. de Chamousset, met with no better
fate than Dockwra, the founder of its prototype. Such large profits
could not escape the notice of the Government, and the service was taken
over by the King, Chamousset being given a pension of 20,000 livres as
its inventor.[555] The service was continued, and its success led to the
establishment of similar local services in other towns--Bordeaux, Lille,
Lyons, Nancy, Marseilles, Montpellier, Nantes, Rouen, Strasburg,
etc.[556]
The ordinary letter rate in France remained at a moderately high level
until a comparatively late date, and a special rate for local letters
continued until 1878. In that year the ordinary rate for letters was
reduced to 15 centimes, the level of the existing local rate, and since
that time local letters have enjoyed no special privilege in France.
GERMANY
In Germany the delivery of local letters in towns was for a long period
conducted as a private undertaking of the postmaster or letter-carrier.
Between 1842 and 1852 it was made a branch of the general postal
service, and the delivery charge (_Ortsbestellgeld_), which, in general,
had been retained by the letter-carrier as wages, was, in the latter
year, made payable to the general revenue. An arrangement was also made
for the acceptance and delivery of local letters, at the rate of 1
sgr.[557] If the letters were called for at the post office (and the
service of delivery at the house therefore not performed) the rate was
reduced to 1/2 sgr.; and when one person posted as many as one hundred
local letters at the same time, the rate for each letter was no more
than 4-1/2 pf. (reduced in 1860 to 4 pf.), including delivery at
residence. When as many as fifty were posted at one time, the rate was
reduced to 1/2 sgr. By a regulation of the 21st December 1860 the limit
of weight for the single letter was, however, raised to 1/2 pound, and a
rate of 2 sgr. imposed on heavier letters, but the rates were not
otherwise materially changed. The law of 16th September 1862 abolished
the delivery fee on ordinary letters. In 1865[558] the rate for local
packets of printed matter was reduced to 4 pf.
When, at the foundation of the North German Union in 1867, the postal
rates were reorganized, the question of the local rates proved to be one
of some little difficulty, since the existing rates differed very
considerably in the different parts of the Union. The Prussian rates
were high as compared with the rates in some other States; and any rate
which could be applied generally was likely to represent a considerable
reduction of the Prussian rates, but a considerable increase of the
rates in other States. The reorganization of the local rates was
consequently delayed. After much discussion a new local rate for places
in the former Prussian postal territory (excepting Berlin and Hamburg)
was established:[559] for ordinary letters 1/2 sgr., for printed matter
and samples 1/3 sgr. In Hanover the local letter rate was made 1/3 sgr.;
in Brunswick 1/4 sgr.; and in Cassel, Erfurt, Frankfort-on-Main, and
Hamburg similar rates were established.[560]
From the 1st January 1875 a uniform rate of 5 pf. for local letters was
introduced throughout the Imperial postal territory. The rate was
irrespective of weight, but there was a maximum limit of 250 grammes.
All other local packets (postcards, printed matter, and samples) were
subject to the ordinary rates of postage. No special local rate was
fixed for parcels: the lowest zone rate was payable, and was, of course,
in effect a local rate. The general application of the new letter rate
would, in certain cases, have resulted in increased rates, and in those
cases (Constance, Darmstadt, and Karlsruhe) a rate of 3 pf.--the
equivalent of the previously existing rate--was established. In Berlin,
in view of the specially expensive arrangements for the delivery of
letters, the rate of 10 pf. for local letters remained in force.[561]
For the delivery of local parcels no charge had previously been made
beyond the rate of local postage, although in respect of all packets
from outside a delivery charge was collected. From the 1st January 1875,
however, local parcels were made liable to a delivery charge.[562] In
general, the local rates introduced on the 1st January 1875 remained for
more than a quarter of a century unchanged, but in course of time
difficulties in their administration developed. The order of the 18th
December 1874 had prescribed a special local rate for letters only; for
all other kinds of postal traffic the ordinary rates remained
applicable. Consequently, a local postcard was charged the same postage
as a letter weighing 250 grammes; similarly the rates for printed matter
or samples for local delivery were high when compared with the rate for
local letters. Such rates were, moreover, anomalous when compared with
the rates for long-distance traffic, which, for postcards, printed
matter, and samples, were much less than for letters. In fact, for local
delivery printed matter and samples had only to be placed in sealed
covers in order to pass at the rate of 5 pf.
In many of the larger towns the delivery of local letters was undertaken
by private enterprise at rates much lower than those of the Imperial
Post Office. The undertakings secured a very large proportion of the
local traffic, and found even these low rates very profitable.
Moreover, the large increase in the number of post offices, and the
withdrawal of numerous places from the areas assigned to certain
offices, had led, in many cases, to great difficulties in deciding
whether letters were subject to the general or the local rate of
postage.[563]
The regulations governing local traffic were accordingly revised under
the law of the 20th December 1899. Local rates were considerably reduced
in amount, and were made applicable to all traffic passing between a
town area and the neighbouring area (_Nachbarorts-Verkehr_),[564] by
which the advantage of these rates was greatly extended. In order to
enable the Post Office adequately to fulfil its public functions, as the
phrase went, it was thought necessary, in view of the development of the
private undertakings, to confer upon it the exclusive right to deal with
local traffic. At first the proposal was to extend the monopoly only to
closed letters, but the Reichstag widened the prohibition, and forbade
private undertakings to conduct arrangements for the transmission of
letters, sealed or unsealed, postcards, printed matter, or samples
addressed to particular persons.[565]
The traffic left open to private enterprise, viz. the delivery of
unaddressed open letters, parcels, newspapers, and magazines, was
regarded by most of the proprietors as insufficient to warrant the
continuance of their undertakings, and on the 1st April 1900 almost all
the private establishments of this kind were discontinued. The
proprietors were, however, compensated by the State for the loss of
their profits.[566] The first undertaking of this kind had been
established in Berlin in the 'seventies, under the title _Brief-
und Druckschriften-Expedition_. Its success led to the establishment in
Berlin and various other places of similar undertakings, some of which
were profitable, but most of which were unsuccessful. The cheaper rates,
however, attracted a considerable volume of traffic, and at the time of
their suppression some seventy-seven such undertakings were in
existence. Most of them were not of long standing, only fourteen of the
seventy-seven having been founded in the 'eighties, forty having been
founded in the years 1895-6-7, in a period of speculation resulting from
the high dividends paid by the Berliner Packetfahrt-Aktiengesellschaft.
The size of the undertakings varied largely. In some cases the whole
business was conducted by the members of a family; in others as many as
a hundred men were employed; and in the case of the Berliner
Packetfahrt-Aktiengesellschaft the letter traffic alone employed a
thousand men. The amount of traffic dealt with was considerable, and
large additions to the postal staff were found necessary.[567] Some of
the employees of the private establishments were taken over by the
Imperial Postal Administration, and a sum of 1-1/2 million marks was
paid as compensation to employees who were not taken over.
Although special provision had been made in the statute with regard to
the amount of compensation to be paid to the proprietors, the
determination of the actual amount was a matter of some difficulty,
owing largely to the unsatisfactory and unreliable manner in which the
accounts of many of the undertakings had been kept.[568] In several
cases also the owners asked exorbitant amounts.
After much negotiation the sum to be paid was finally decided. It
amounted to some six million marks. In order to get rid of the private
establishments for the handling of private letters, etc., the Imperial
Administration therefore paid in all (i.e. including the compensation to
the employees of the private undertakings) a sum of about 7-1/2 million
marks.[569]
The new rates were as follow[570]:--
(_a_) Letters--
Not exceeding 250 grammes in weight 5 pf.
(_b_) Postcards 2 pf.
(_c_) Printed matter--
Not exceeding 50 grammes 2 pf.
50 grammes to 100 " 3 pf.
100 " 250 " 5 pf.
250 " 500 " 10 pf.
500 " 1,000 " 15 pf.
(_d_) Commercial papers--
Not exceeding 250 grammes 5 pf.
250 grammes to 500 " 10 pf.
500 " 1,000 " 15 pf.
(_e_) Samples--
Not exceeding 250 grammes 5 pf.
250 grammes to 350 " 10 pf.
(_f_) Mixed packages of (_c_), (_d_), and (_e_)--
Not exceeding 250 grammes 5 pf.
250 grammes to 500 " 10 pf.
500 " 1,000 " 15 pf.
These rates applied throughout the Imperial postal territory, including
Berlin, which thus for the first time obtained the advantage of local
rates; and in 1902 they were extended to all places which had a post
office for only part of the year, such as small watering-places, summer
resorts, and beauty spots.[571]
The result of the reduced rates was not satisfactory financially. It was
not, of course, possible to calculate with any exactness the actual cost
of the service performed by the Post Office in respect of local traffic;
but such estimates as the administration were able to make tended to
show that the cost exceeded the revenue, and that the local business was
therefore conducted at some loss.[572] Consequently, when in 1906
Imperial requirements made it necessary to obtain an increased revenue
from the Post Office, the administration placed the burden on the local
traffic, although not without some opposition in the Reichstag. On the
1st July 1906 the rates for local traffic, with the exception of the
rate for local letters, were made the same as the general rates for
transmission throughout the Imperial postal territory.
The rate for letters remained as formerly, 5 pf. for letters not
exceeding 250 grammes in weight.[573]
* * * * *
VI
INTERNATIONAL RATES
(I) INTERNATIONAL LETTER POST
The adoption in numerous countries of the principle of uniformity of
rate for inland postal traffic, and the enormous simplification of the
system of rates and of their practical administration which it achieved,
led naturally to an endeavour to effect a like simplification of the
rates for postal traffic exchanged between the various countries. The
rates in operation varied enormously, not only as between different
countries, but frequently in respect of letters passing between the same
two countries.[574]