RATES AND FINANCE
After de Quester had been appointed Foreign Postmaster-General, he
published, in 1626, an incomplete set of rates from and to various
places on the continent. His charges for "packets," and by packets he
meant letters or parcels carried by a special messenger, were as
follows:--
To the Hague £7.
To Brussels or Paris £10.
To Vienna £60.
The ordinary rates were:--
To or from any of the above places 30_s._
To or from any part of Germany 6_s._
From Venice for a single letter 9_d._[562]
From Venice for any letter over a single letter 2_s._ 8_d._
From Leghorn and Florence for a single letter 1_s._
From Leghorn and Florence over a single letter 3_s._an ounce.[563]
This system of rates, although crude, marks a distinct era in postal
progress. It forms the foundation of the plan which was perfected a few
years later by Witherings. De Quester also published a statement of the
days of departure of the regular posts with foreign letters.[564] In the
trial between Stanhope and de Quester over the question of who should be
Foreign Postmaster-General, it came out in the evidence that Stanhope
had been accustomed to receive 8_d._ for every letter to Hamburg,
Amsterdam, and Antwerp.[565] This charge was rather in the nature of a
perquisite than a legal rate and serves partly to explain why Stanhope
was so anxious to retain the monopoly of the foreign post.
[562] The rate from Venice had been _16d._ By a single letter is meant
one piece of paper.
[563] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1625-26, p. 523.
[564] _Ibid._, 1628-29, p. 538.
[565] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 48 (25).
Witherings' rates for domestic postage, as fixed by Royal Proclamation
in 1635, were as follows for a single letter:--
_d._
Under 80 miles 2
Between 80 and 140 miles 4
Over 140 miles 6
On the Borders and in Scotland 8
In Ireland 9
If there were more than one sheet of paper, postage must be paid
according to the above rate for every separate sheet or enclosure. For
instance, a letter or packet composed of two sheets was called a double
letter and paid 4_d._ for any distance under 80 miles. A letter of three
sheets was called a triple letter and paid 6_d._ if conveyed under 80
miles, and so in proportion.[566] In 1638, the rules concerning the
imposition of rates were changed slightly. The rates themselves remained
the same for single and double letters. Letters above double letters
were to be charged according to weight as follows:--
Under 80 miles 6_d._ an ounce.
From 80 to 140 miles 9_d._
Above 140 miles 12_d._
For Ireland 6_d._ if over two ounces.[567]
This expedient must have been adopted from the difficulty in discovering
the number of enclosures when there were more than two. It is impossible
to say how long these rates continued, probably not later than
Witherings' régime. During Prideaux' management the maximum postage on a
single letter was 6_d._, reduced later to 3_d._[568]
[566] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 57 (36).
[567] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 58 (37).
[568] Joyce, p. 29.
The Council of State gave orders in 1652 for the imposition of the
following rates for a single letter:--
_d._
Within 100 miles from London 2
To remoter parts of England and Wales 3
To Scotland 4
To Ireland 6[569]
Whether these rates were actually collected is questionable. The
postage which the farmers of the Posts were allowed to collect in the
following year was fixed by the Council of State for single letters as
follows:--
_d._
Under 80 miles from London 2
Above 80 miles from London 3
To Scotland 4
To Ireland 6
These rates are in effect lower than those of Witherings, for he had
inserted a 3_d._ rate for letters delivered between 80 and 140 miles
from London, had charged 4_d._ for all letters going farther than 140
miles, and had charged 8_d._ and 9_d._ for letters to Scotland and
Ireland respectively. They were a little higher than those of 1652, for
by them 2_d._ had carried a letter 100 miles.[570]
[569] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1651-52, p. 507.
[570] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1652-53, p. 449.
In 1657, the first act of Parliament was passed, fixing rates for
letters and establishing the system for England, Ireland, and Scotland.
The domestic rates were:--
_For a_ _Double_ _Per_
_single letter_ _letter_ _ounce_
{Within 80 miles from London 2_d._. 4_d._ 8_d._
In England {Above 80 miles from London 3 6 12
To or from Scotland 4 8 18
To or from Ireland 6 12 24
In Ireland {Within 40 miles from Dublin 2 4 8
{Above 40 miles from Dublin 4 8 12
The foreign rates were:--
_For a_ _Double_ _Per_
_single letter_ _letter_ _ounce_
To Leghorn, Genoa, Florence, Lyons,
Marseilles, Aleppo, Constantinople 12_d._ 24_d._ 45_d._
To St. Malo, Morlaix, Nieuhaven 6 12 18
To Bordeaux, Rochelle, Nantes,
Bayonne, Cadiz, Madrid 9 18 24
To Hamburg, Frankfort, and Cologne 8 16 24
To Dantzic, Leipsic, Lubeck,
Stockholm, Copenhagen, Elsinore,
Konigsburg 12 24 48[571]
[571] Scobell, _Collect._, pt. ii, pp. 511-13. Inland letters containing
more than two enclosures but weighing less than an ounce were charged
according to the number of enclosures.
These rates are considerably lower than those of Witherings and are
essentially the same as those of 1653, except that the postage is fixed
for letters to and from the continent. No provision is made for letters
to and from any other part of the world but Europe. Since the government
had not established any postal communication with Asia, Africa, or the
Americas, it would have been unfair to demand postage on letters
conveyed by merchant vessels to and from those places.[572]
[572] Scobell, _Collect._, pt. ii, pp. 511-13.
The act of 1660 is generally referred to as bringing the Post Office
under Parliamentary control and as the basis of the modern system. This
is probably due to the fact that the act of 1657 was passed by a
Commonwealth Parliament and signed by Cromwell. Whether its authors
lacked the power to give it validity, they did not lack the brains to
pass an excellent act, and although the Royalists saw fit, after the
Restoration, to dub it the pretended act of 1657, they could not improve
it and had the sense to leave it largely untouched. The first act had
imposed rates from or to any place to or from London as a centre. It had
been taken for granted that all letters passed to, from, or through the
capital, and to all intents and purposes this was so. It was possible,
however, for letters, technically called bye-letters, to stop short of
London, and it was to provide for these that postage was to be reckoned
from any place where a letter might be posted.
Scotland was no longer a part of England after the Restoration, so that
by the act of 1660 rates were given to and from Berwick and for single
letters were a penny less than they had been to Scotland under the
earlier act. From Berwick the rate, within a radius of forty miles, was
2_d._ for a single letter, and over forty miles, 4_d._ As far as foreign
postage was concerned, letters to the northern coast towns of Italy paid
3_d._ less than the old rate for a single letter. Other rates remained
the same. Alternative routes were sometimes offered. For instance,
letters might be sent directly to northern Italy or they might go via
Lyons, but in the latter case they cost 3_d._ more. Again, there were
many more continental towns to which letters might be sent and from
which they might be received. Letters for Germany via Hamburg had to be
postpaid as far as that city. The same was true of letters to southern
France via Paris and of letters to northern Italy via Lyons. The highest
rate paid for a single letter was 1_s._ to northern Italy, Turkey, and
central and northern Germany. Merchants' accounts not exceeding one
sheet of paper, bills of exchange, invoices and bills of lading, were to
pay nothing over the charge of the letter in which they might be
enclosed. The same rule was to hold for the covers of letters sent to
Turkey via Marseilles. All inland letters were to be paid for at the
place where they were delivered unless the sender wished to pay in
advance.[573]
[573] 12 Chas. II, c. 35.
When the Scotch was separated from the English Post Office in 1695,
rates were imposed by the Parliament of Scotland as follows:
_For a single letter_
To Berwick 2_s._[574]
Within 50 miles from Edinburgh 2
From 50 to 100 miles from Edinburgh 3
Above 100 miles from Edinburgh 4
Packages of papers were to pass as triple letters.[575] In 1701, when
the Scotch Post was let out to farm, the English Postmasters-General
advised that the farmers should be obliged to pay at Berwick the postage
on English and foreign letters for Scotland, and an order in accordance
with this advice was signed by the King. It was the custom to change the
farmers every three years, which may have produced a larger revenue but
was certainly not calculated to increase the efficiency of the office.
The English Postmasters-General had great difficulty in collecting at
Berwick the postage due them, and it is doubtful whether a large part
was ever paid. The frequent changes in the farmers must have been an
excellent means of allowing them to escape their debts to the
English.[576]
[574] One shilling Scotch was equal to one penny English.
[575] Wm. III, 1st parl., 5th session (Scotland), c. 31.
[576] _Cal. T. P._, 1697-1702, 48; 1702-1707, 101.
It has been customary to point to the postage rates of 1660 as lower
than any before the nineteenth century. This is true in a general way,
but one limitation to the statement is generally overlooked. Before 1696
all posts ran to or from London, and it was not until well on in the
eighteenth century that the system of cross posts was introduced.
Bristol and Exeter are less than eighty miles apart, but a letter from
Bristol to Exeter went to London first and from there to Exeter,
travelling about 300 miles to reach a town eighty miles distant. Now by
the act of 1660, the rate for distances above 80 miles was 3_d._ Thus
the letter paid 3_d._ from Bristol to London and 3_d._ more from London
to Exeter, 6_d._ in all. If there had been a direct post from Bristol to
Exeter, and there was not until 1698, the postage would have been 2_d._
only. The possibility of such an anomaly as this must be kept in mind in
considering the low rates of the seventeenth century.
In James the Second's reign, a Post Office had been established in
Jamaica, and rates of postage had been settled not only in the island
itself but between it and the mother country. This was a new departure,
since at that time there were no packet boats to the West Indies. The
rate between England and Jamaica was 6_d._ for a single letter, 1_s._
for a double letter, and 2_s._ an ounce. As the Crown was not at the
expense of maintaining means of transport, this was a pure tax.[577] In
1704, the postage on a single letter from the West Indies was raised to
7-1/2_d._, for a double letter 15_d._, but Dummer's packets were then in
operation.[578]
[577] Joyce, p. 78.
[578] _Cal. T. P._, 1702-07, 46.
_Single letter_ _Double letter_ _Per ounce_
Rates to the islands were 9_d._ 18_d._ 32_d._
In 1705 increased to 15 30 72
Rates from the islands in 1705 18 36 72
--Stow's _London_, bk. v, p.400.
In 1698, a system of posts had been established in the American colonies
between the largest towns on the Atlantic coast. All that is known about
the rates is that the charge for the conveyance of a letter between
Boston and New York was 1_s._ and the post went weekly between those
places.[579] Hamilton, the deputy manager, proposed that letters from
England should be sent in sealed bags entrusted to the masters of ships.
The bags were to be handed over to the postmaster of the port where the
ship first touched and the captain was to receive a penny for each
letter. He advised that the following rates should be adopted:--
Not exceeding 80 miles from New York 6_d._
From 80 to 150 miles from New York 9
To and from Boston and New York, 300 miles 12
Jersey, 370 miles 18
Philadelphia, 390 miles 20
Annapolis, 550 miles 36
Jamestown, 680 miles 42
New York and Annapolis, 250 miles 24
Jamestown, 380 miles
(with many dangerous places to cross by ferry) 30
These rates were said to be too high and were not adopted, "it being
found that cheap postage greatly encourages letter writing, as is shown
by the reduction in England from 6_d._ to 3_d._"[580]
[579] Joyce, p. 111.
[580] Joyce, p. 113; _Cal. T. P._, 1697-1702, 77.
The preamble to the act of 1711 offered as an explanation of an increase
in rates the necessity for money for the war and the prevention of
private competition in carrying letters. It is plain that higher rates
will, up to a certain point, increase proceeds, though not
proportionately, but how increased rates can decrease competition is
more difficult to explain. Witherings had found that the cheaper he made
postage, the less fear was there from interlopers. It is possible that
the framers of the bill had intended to use part of the increase in
revenue for the support of searchers, but no such provision is contained
in the act itself.[581] On the ground that a large revenue was
necessary, no fault can be found with the increase. It is probably true
that in course of time lower rates would have increased the product more
than higher, but war and its demands wait for no man. The people who
could write and who needed to write were in a small minority then, and
their number could not for a long time be influenced by lower rates.
What was needed at once was money and the only way to raise it by means
of the Post Office was the one adopted.
[581] Joyce, p. 128.
The rates for single letters within England and between England and
Edinburgh were increased by a penny for a single letter; for double
letters and parcels in proportion. To Dublin the charge remained the
same, and the rates within Ireland were not changed. In the act of 1660,
the postage on letters delivered in Scotland had been reckoned from
Berwick. Edinburgh was now made the centre and the rates were as
follows:--
_For a single letter_ _Per ounce_
From Edinburgh within Scotland _d._ _d._
Not exceeding 50 miles 2 8
Above 50 and not exceeding 80 miles 3 12
Above 80 miles 4 16[582]
[582] Double letters were charged twice as much as single letters.
The rates within Scotland were lower than those within England and
Ireland. Scotland had a 2_d._ rate for distances not exceeding fifty
miles. England had no rate under 3_d._, except for the Penny Post.
Ireland, too, had a 2_d._ rate for distances not exceeding forty miles,
but for distances from forty to eighty miles and over, the rate for
Irish letters was 4_d._, while in England the rate was only 3_d._ for
distances not exceeding eighty miles. The distances which letters
travelled within Scotland were shorter than in England and Ireland. As a
rule the different rates for the three countries varied with their
wealth and consequent ability to pay, the least being required from
poverty-stricken Scotland. The new rates as compared with the old were
for a single letter:[583]--
_For England_
1660 1711
Not exceeding 80 miles 2_d._ 3_d._
Above 80 miles 3 4
Between London and Edinburgh 5 6
Between London and Dublin 6 6
_Within Ireland_
Not exceeding 40 miles from Dublin 2_d._ 2_d._
Above 40 miles from Dublin 4 4
_Within Scotland (Scotch Act, 1695)_
Not exceeding 50 miles from Edinburgh 2_d._ 2_d._
From 50 to 80 miles from Edinburgh 3
From 50 to 100 miles from Edinburgh 3
Above 80 miles from Edinburgh 4
Above 100 miles from Edinburgh 4
[583] When the rates for single letters only are given it is understood
that double and triple letters paid two and three times as much
respectively. Letters weighing an ounce or more paid a single letter
rate for each quarter of an ounce.
The act of 1660 imposed rates on letters in Scotland from Berwick as a
centre. By that act rates had been fixed for distances not exceeding 40
miles and for distances over forty miles from Berwick, being 2_d._ and
4_d._ for single letters for the respective distances, so that by the
act of 1711, the Scotch rates were lower than they had been in 1660 and
slightly higher than those of 1695. When forty miles was made the lowest
distance according to which rates were levied, it was thought and
intended that 2_d._, the rate for that distance, would pay for a single
letter from Berwick to Edinburgh. As a matter of fact, the distance
between the two places was fifty miles, so that the Scotch Act had
estimated it better.
In the rates as given above, an exception is made in the case of letters
directed on board ship or brought by it. For such letters one penny was
charged in addition to the rates already given. This extra penny was
charged because the postmaster in the place where the ship first touched
was required to pay the master of the vessel one penny for every letter
received. Foreign letters collected or delivered at any place between
London and the port of departure or arrival of the ship for which they
were destined or by which they had come, must pay the same rate as if
they had left or arrived in London.
As far as foreign post rates were concerned they were all from 1_d._ to
3_d._ higher than they had been by the act of 1660. The lowest foreign
rate for a single letter, 10_d._, was paid between London and France,
and London and the Spanish Netherlands. To Germany and Northwestern
Europe, through the Spanish Netherlands, the rate was 12_d._, to Italy
or Sicily the same way 12_d._, postpaid to Antwerp, or 15_d._ via Lyons.
The same rates held for letters passing through the United Provinces. To
Spain or Portugal via the Spanish Netherlands or the United Provinces or
France, postpaid to Bayonne, the rate was 18_d._ for a single letter,
and the same price held when letters were conveyed directly by sailing
packets.
By the same act of 1711 rates were for the first time established
between England and her colonies and within the colonies themselves. The
postage for a single letter from London to any of the West India Islands
was 18_d._, to New York 12_d._, and the same from those places to
London. Between the West Indies and New York the rate was 4_d._ In the
colonies on the mainland, the chief letter offices were at New York,
Perth Amboy, New London, Philadelphia, Bridlington, Newport, Portsmouth,
Boston, Annapolis, Salem, Ipswich, Piscataway, Williamstown, and
Charleston. The postage was 4_d._ to and from any of these places to a
distance not exceeding sixty miles and 6_d._ for any distance between
sixty and 100 miles. Between New York, Perth Amboy, and Bridlington, the
rate was 6_d._; between New York, New London, and Philadelphia 9_d._;
between New York, Newport, Portsmouth, and Boston 12_d._; between New
York, Salem, Ipswich, Piscataway, and Williamstown 15_d._; between New
York and Charleston 18_d._; the Post Office was to pay nothing for
crossing ferries.
There had always been trouble in collecting the rates on bye and cross
post letters. These letters did not pass through London and hence the
officials at the General Post Office had no check on the money due. By a
clause in the act, the postmasters were ordered under a penalty to
account for the receipts from all these letters. The postage on letters
which did not pass to, through, or from London was fixed according to
the inland charges, varying with the distances travelled. Finally, the
postage on all inland letters was to be paid on delivery unless the
sender wished to pay in advance, or in the case of the Penny Post, or
unless such letters should be directed on board any ship or vessel or to
any person in the army.
From the receipts from postage, £700 a week was to be paid into the
Exchequer for the purpose of carrying on the war. The Accountant-General
was to keep account of all money raised, the receipts themselves going
directly to the Receiver-General and being paid into the Exchequer by
him. One third of the surplus over and above the weekly payment of £700
and £111,461 (the amount of the gross receipts of the duties arising by
virtue of the act of 1660) were to be disposed of by Parliament. In
making this provision, Joyce thinks that the Chancellor of the Exchequer
confused gross and net product.[584] As a matter of fact there was no
such surplus as was anticipated by the Chancellor, but it does not
follow that he made the mistake of which he was accused by Cornwallis
and Craggs, an accusation in which Joyce evidently concurs. He erred
simply in supposing that expenses would remain the same.[585]
[584] Joyce, p. 145.
[585] 9 Anne, c. 11.
The act of 1711 in prescribing the rate of postage for the carriage of
"every single letter or piece of paper" enacted that a "double letter
should pay twice that rate." The merchants contended that a double
letter was composed of two sheets of paper if they weighed less than an
ounce and their reasoning was logical. They argued from this that a
letter enclosing a pattern or patterns, if it weighed less than one
ounce, should pay only as a single letter. Actions were brought against
the postmasters by the merchants for charging more than they considered
was warranted and the merchants won every case. The lawyers also
threatened legal proceedings for the charge of writs when enclosed in
letters. The Postmasters-General hastened to Parliament for relief. The
merchants heard of this, and petitions were sent to the House of Commons
from "clothiers, dealers in cloth, silk, and other manufactured goods,"
asking that when samples were enclosed in a single letter the rate
should remain the same provided that such letter and sample did not
exceed half an ounce in weight.[586] Their efforts were fruitless. The
following provisions were inserted in a tobacco bill then before
Parliament and passed in 1753: "that every writ etc. enclosed in a
letter was to pay as a distinct letter and that a letter with one or
more patterns enclosed and not exceeding one ounce in weight was to pay
as a double letter."[587] As a matter of fact all the rates collected
after 1743 by virtue of the act of 1711 were illegal, for the act itself
had died a natural death in the former year by that clause which
provided for the revival of the rates of 1660 at the end of thirty-two
years.
[586] _Jo. H. C._, 1745-50, pp. 751-2.
[587] 26 Geo. III, c. 13, secs. 7, 8.
A postal act was passed in 1765, slightly changing the home, colonial,
and foreign rates. The cession of territory in North America had made
necessary a more comprehensive scheme of postage rates there. The
conclusion of the Seven Years' War had made it possible to offer a
slight reduction in postage. In Great Britain the following rates were
published for short distances for a single letter:--
For Great Britain--not exceeding one post stage 1_d._
For England alone--over one and not exceeding two stages 2_d._
The rates for all other distances remained unchanged. A stage, as a
rule, varied from ten to twelve miles in length, so that every post town
in England could now boast a modified form of penny postage, with the
exception in most cases of delivery facilities.
The changes in colonial rates were generally in the shape of
substituting general for special rules. The rate from any part of the
British American Dominions to any other part was fixed at 4_d._ for a
single letter when conveyed by sea. The act of 1711 had given the
postage from and to specially named places. This method had become
inapplicable with the growth in population among the old and the
increase in new possessions. The rate for a single letter from any chief
post office in the British American Dominions to a distance not
exceeding sixty miles, or for any distance not exceeding sixty miles
from any post office from which letters did not pass through a chief
post office, was placed at 4_d._, from sixty to 100 miles 6_d._, from
100 to 200 miles 8_d._, for each additional hundred miles 2_d._ The
effect of this act was to continue the same rates for inland postage in
British America, while rates were provided for distances over 100 miles.
The postage between England and the American colonies remained at 12_d._
for a single letter. In the case of the West Indies, there was a
decrease of 6_d._ A clause of the act provided that the postage on
letters sent out of England might be demanded in advance.[588]
[588] 5 Geo. III, c. 25. The principle of payment in advance was not
popular. A man in England writing to his brother in Virginia in 1764
says, "Very often of late I have been so foolish, I should say
unfortunate previously to pay for the letters coming to you.... To my
great concern I have been since assured that such letters never go
forward but are immediately thrown aside and neglected. I believe I
wrote to you three or four times this last winter by this method and am
since informed of this their fate. You may form a great guess of the
truth of it by or by not receiving them" (_Notes and Queries_, 4th ser.,
xii, p. 125).
Postage rates were increased steadily from 1784 for twenty-eight years,
culminating in the year 1812 with the highest rates that England has
ever seen. Every available means to raise the revenue necessary to
maintain her supremacy was resorted to, and the Post Office was
compelled to bear its share of the burden. In 1784 another penny was
added to the rates for single letters and additional rates for double
and triple letters in proportion.[589] Three years later an act was
passed, fixing the postage for the conveyance of a single letter by
sailing packet from Milford Haven to Waterford at 6_d._ over and above
all other rates. It was provided by the same act that the rates between
London and Ireland via Milford should not exceed the rates via
Holyhead.[590]
[589] 24 Geo. III, sess. 2, c. 37.
[590] 27 Geo. III, c. 9. In 1767 a rate of 2_d._ for a single letter was
established between Whitehaven (Cumberland) and the Port of Douglas
(Isle of Man) (7 Geo. III, c. 50).
In 1796 the rates for letters conveyed within England and Wales,
Berwick, to and from Portugal, and to and from the British possessions
in America, as established by the acts of 1711, 1765, and 1784, were
repealed and the following substituted for a single letter:--
_Within England, Wales and Berwick._
_d._
Not exceeding 15 miles from place where letter is posted 3
From 15 to 30 miles, etc. 4
30 60 5
60 100 6
100 150 7
Over 150 miles, etc. 8
_Within Scotland._
In addition to rates in force 1
The old system of reckoning by stages was thus abolished, probably on
account of the uncertainty as to the length of any particular stage and
the variations and changes which were being constantly made. This change
was made for England and Wales only, and the old system of reckoning by
stages was still retained in Scotland. Letters from and to the colonies
had formerly paid no postage over the regular shilling rate for a single
letter and proportionately for other letters. Now they were to pay the
full inland rate in addition. A single letter from the West Indies would
now pay the shilling packet rate plus the rate from Falmouth to London,
1_s._ 8_d._ in all. The same rates and the same rule held for letters to
and from Portugal. A single letter from Lisbon had formerly paid 1_s._
6_d._ on delivery in London. It would now pay 1_s._ 8_d._
This act was not to affect letters to and from non-commissioned
officers, privates, and seamen while in active service, who were allowed
to send and receive letters for one penny each, payable in advance. The
revenue arising from the new and the unrepealed rates was to be paid to
the Receiver-General and be by him carried to the Consolidated Fund. The
increase from the additional postage was estimated at £40,000 a year and
was to be used to pay the interest on loans contracted the preceding
year.[591]
[591] 37 Geo. III, c. 18.
When sailing packets were established between Weymouth and the islands
of Jersey and Guernsey, the packet rates and the rates between the
islands themselves were fixed at 2_d._ for a single letter. Permission
was also given to establish postal routes in the islands, and to charge
the same postage for the conveyance of letters as in England. The
surplus was to go to the General Office and all postal laws then in
force in England were to be deemed applicable to the two islands.[592]
[592] 33 Geo. III, c. 60.
By the same act which gave the Postmasters-General authority to forward
letters by vessels other than the regular sailing packets, rates were
fixed for the carriage of such letters. For every single letter brought
into the kingdom by these vessels, 4_d._ was to be charged. The
Postmasters-General might order such rates to be payable in advance or
on delivery. This was in addition to the inland postage, and for every
letter handed over to the Post Office, the captain was to receive 2_d._
The revenue arising from this act was payable to the Exchequer.[593]
[593] 39 Geo. III, c. 76.
In 1801 the Post Office was called upon again to make a further
contribution to the Exchequer to help meet the interest on new loans.
The following were the new rates for a single letter:--
_Within Great Britain by the General Post_
_d._
Not exceeding 15 measured miles 3
Above 15 but not exceeding 30 measured miles 4
30 50 5
50 80 6
80 120 7
120 170 8
170 230 9
230 300 10
_d._
For every 100 miles above 300 miles an additional rate of 1
Where the distance above 300 miles did not amount to 100 miles
an additional rate of 1
Where the distance above 300 miles exceeded 100 miles and for
every excess of distance over 100 miles an additional rate of 1
By the act of 1796 a uniform rate of 8_d._ for a single letter had been
paid for distances over 150 miles. The new act not only imposed extra
rates for all distances over 150 miles but it decreased the distances
above 30 miles for which the old postage would have paid. For instance,
a 6_d._ rate had carried a single letter 100 miles, a 7_d._ rate 150
miles. They now carried only 80 and 120 miles respectively.
On letters to and from places abroad, "not being within His Majesty's
Dominions," an additional rate of 4_d._ for a single letter was
imposed.[594] In London, where a penny had been charged for the
conveyance of letters by the Penny Post, 2_d._ was now charged. An
additional rate of 2_d._ for a single letter was imposed upon letters
passing between Great Britain and Ireland via Holyhead or Milford. The
Postmasters-General were given authority to convey letters to and from
places which were not post towns for such sums for extra service as
might be agreed upon. Merchants' accounts and bills of exchange which,
when sent out of the kingdom or conveyed into it, had not formerly been
charged postage over the letters in which they were enclosed, were now
to be rated as letters.[595]
[594] When the temporary peace of Amiens was concluded in 1802, the
rates for single letters from London to France were reduced to 10d.,
from London to the Batavian Republic to 12_d._ (42 Geo. II, c. 101).
[595] 41 Geo. III, c. 7.
In 1803, the following rates were imposed within Ireland for a single
letter:--
_d. (Irish)_[596]
Not exceeding 15 Irish miles 2
From 15 to 30 Irish miles 3
30 50 4
50 80 5
Exceeding 80 Irish miles 6
The postage on letters arriving in Ireland for the distance travelled
outside Ireland was ordered to be collected by the Irish
Postmaster-General and forwarded to London. An additional penny was
imposed upon Dublin Penny Post letters crossing the circular road
around Dublin.[597]
[596] The Irish penny was of the same value as the English penny.
[597] 43 Geo. III, c. 28.
In 1805, for the third time within ten years, the Exchequer fell back
upon the Post Office for an increase of revenue estimated at
£230,000.[598] There were added to the rates as already
prescribed--1_d._ for a single letter, 2_d._ for a double letter, 3_d._
for a triple letter, and 4_d._ for a letter weighing as much as one
ounce, for all letters conveyed by the Post in Great Britain or between
Great Britain and Ireland. The postage on a single letter from London to
Brighton was thus raised from 6_d._ to 7_d._, from London to Liverpool
from 9_d._ to 10_d._, and from London to Edinburgh from 12_d._ to 13_d._
Twopenny Post letters paid 3_d._ if sent beyond the General Post
Delivery limits, while newspapers paid 1_d._ On every letter passing
between Great Britain and a foreign country 2_d._ more was to be paid.
An additional penny was charged for every single letter between Great
Britain and the British American Dominions via Portugal, and between
Great Britain, the Isle of Man and Jersey and Guernsey.[599] In the same
year the Irish rates were also increased by the imposition of an
additional penny upon each single letter with corresponding changes in
the postage on double and triple letters. The Dublin Penny Post was left
untouched, its boundaries being defined as contained within a circle of
four miles radius, with the General Post Office building as the centre.
Every letter from any ship within Irish waters was charged a penny in
addition to the increased rates.[600]
[598] _Parl. Deb._, 1st ser., iii, col. 550.
[599] 45 Geo. III, c. 11.
[600] 45 Geo. III, c. 21.
Still the demand was for more money to help replenish an exhausted
treasury. An additional penny was added for the conveyance of a single
letter more than twenty miles beyond the place where the letter was
posted within Great Britain and between Great Britain and Ireland. For
the conveyance of a single letter between Great Britain and any of the
colonies or to any foreign country an additional 2_d._ was required.
These additional rates did not apply to letters to and from Jersey or
Guernsey, or to and from any non-commissioned officer, soldier, or
sailor.[601] Samples weighing no more than one ounce were to pay 2_d._
if enclosed in a letter, if not enclosed, 1_d._ As this is the highest
point to which postage rates in England have ever attained, it may be
interesting to give the rates resulting from this act in tabular form as
far as the postage for inland single letters was concerned.[602]
_d._
Not exceeding 15 miles 4
Above 15 but not exceeding 20 miles 5
20 30 6
30 50 7
50 80 8
80 120 9
120 170 10
170 230 11
230 300 12
300 400 13
400 500 14
500 600 15
600 700 16
700 miles 17
[601] Single letters written by or to non-commissioned officers,
privates, and seamen must be on their own business, and if sent by them
must bear their own signatures and the signature of their superior
officer with the name of their regiment or ship (46 Geo. III, c. 92).
[602] 52 Geo. III, c. 88.
In 1806, the rate for a single letter between Falmouth and Gibraltar was
fixed at 21_d._, between Falmouth and Malta 25_d._, between Gibraltar
and Malta 6_d._ (46 Geo. III, c. 73).
In 1808, the rate for a single letter between Falmouth and Madeira was
fixed at 18_d._, between Falmouth and Brazil 29_d._ (48 Geo. III, c.
116).
In 1810, an additional penny (Irish) was added to the rates then in
force in Ireland, with the exception of the penny rate on the Dublin
Penny Post Letters.[603] Three years later the rates and distances for
Ireland were changed again. As compared with the old rates they were as
follows, both tables being in Irish miles and Irish currency and for
single letters only:--
[603] 50 Geo. III, c. 74.
1810 _d._ 1813 _d._
Not exceeding 15 miles 4 Not exceeding 10 miles 2
From 15 to 30 miles 5 From 10 to 20 miles 3
30 50 6 20 30 4
50 80 7 30 40 5
Exceeding 80 miles 8 40 50 6
50 60 7
60 80 8
80 100 9
Over 100 miles 10
The rates of 1813 were lower for distances not exceeding forty miles,
higher for distances over eighty miles. On the whole there was little
change, but the later rates were probably more easily borne as they were
lower for short distances.[604] The next year the rates and distances
for Ireland were changed again, the result being an increase both for
short and for long distances. The results are shown in the following
table in Irish miles and Irish currency and for a single letter:[605]--
Not exceeding 7 miles 2_d._
Over 7 and not exceeding 15 miles 3
15 25 4
25 35 5
35 45 6
45 55 7
55 65 8
65 95 9
95 125 10
125 150 11
150 200 12
200 250 13
250 300 14
For every 100 miles over 300 miles 1
[604] 53 Geo. III, c. 58.
[605] 54 Geo. III, c. 119.
In 1813 an additional half-penny was demanded on all Scotch letters
"because the mail coaches now paid toll in that country." So at least a
correspondent to the _Times_ says (London _Times_, 1813, June 21, p. 3).
In 1814 the postage on a single letter brought into the kingdom by
ships other than the regular packets was raised from 4_d._ to 6_d._ in
addition to the regular inland rates. The rate for letters sent out of
the kingdom by these vessels was fixed at one third the regular packet
rates.[606] An exception was made in the case of letters carried by war
vessels or by vessels of the East India Company to and from the Cape of
Good Hope, Mauritius, and that part of the East Indies embraced in the
charter of the company. The rates by these vessels were to be the same
as the regular packet rates, 42_d._ for a single letter between those
places and England, and 21_d._ for a single letter between the places
themselves. Newspapers were charged 3_d._ an ounce between England, the
Cape, Mauritius, and the East Indies. The rate for a single letter
conveyed in private vessels not employed by the Post Office to carry
mails was 14_d._ from England to the Cape or the East Indies, and 8_d._
from the Cape or the East Indies to England. The company was allowed to
collect rates on letters within its own territory in India, but the
Postmasters-General of England might at any time establish post offices
in any such territory. The company was to be paid for the use of its
ships in conveying letters.[607]
[606] 54 Geo. III, c. 169. Enacted for Ireland the following year (55
Geo. III, c. 103).
[607] 55 Geo. III, c. 153. This act, although repealed for Great Britain
by 59 Geo. III, c. 111, still remained in force in Ireland (5 and 6 Wm.
IV, c. 25).
By the Ship Letter Act of 1814, no letters were to be sent by private
ships except such as had been brought to the Post Office to be charged.
The directors of the East India Company had protested against this
section of the act. It is true that they were allowed to send and
receive letters by the ships of their own company, but in India there
was a small army of officials in their service whose letters had
hitherto gone free. For that matter it had been the custom for the
company to carry for nothing all letters and papers which were placed in
the letter box at the East India House.[608] Petitions were presented
against an attempt on the part of the Post Office to charge postage on
letters to and from India when conveyed by private vessels.[609] The
company refused to allow its vessels to be used as packet boats or even
to carry letters at all. It was in consequence of all this opposition
that the act of 1815 was passed, giving more favourable treatment to
letters to and from India. By this act no person sending a letter to
India was compelled to have it charged at the Post Office and the
masters were compelled to carry letters if the Postmasters-General
ordered them. The company now withdrew all opposition and even refused
to accept any payment for the use of their vessels in conveying
letters.[610] Notwithstanding the favourable exception made in the case
of letters to and from the East Indies, there was still discontent over
the high rates charged by the Post Office for the conveyance of letters
by the regular packet boats and by private vessels, when carrying
letters entrusted to the Post Office.[611] In 1819 the sea postage on
any letter or package not exceeding three ounces in weight from Ceylon,
Mauritius, the Cape, and the East Indies was placed at 4_d._ If it
exceeded three ounces in weight, it was charged 12_d._ an ounce. The sea
postage on letters and packages to Ceylon, etc., not exceeding three
ounces in weight, was placed at 2_d._ If the weight was more than three
ounces, the charge was 12_d._ an ounce. The postage on letters and
packages from England was payable in advance. Newspapers were charged a
penny an ounce.[612]
[608] London _Times_, 1814, Oct. 8, p. 3; 1815, Jan. 19, p. 3.
[609] _Parl. Deb._, 1st ser., xxx, col. 766; xxxi, col. 220.
[610] Joyce, p. 363.
[611] The _Calcutta Monthly_ complained that the new rates had rendered
correspondence less frequent. "The so-called packet boats are often two
or three months slower than private vessels" (London _Times_, 1818, Oct.
30, p. 3).
[612] 59 Geo. III, c. 111; London _Times_, 1820, Jan. 24, p. 3.
By an act passed in 1827 it was provided that henceforth all rates for
letters conveyed within Ireland should be collected in British currency.
The rates themselves and the distances remained the same as had been
provided by the act of 1814. The postage collected on letters between
the two kingdoms was henceforth to be retained in the country where it
was collected. The rates for letters passing between the two kingdoms
were assimilated with the rates prescribed for Great Britain by the act
of 1812. In addition to the land rates, 2d. was required for the sea
passage to and from Holyhead and Milford and to this 2_d._ more was
added for the use of the Conway and Menai Bridges.[613] Between
Portpatrick and Donaghadee the postage was 4_d._ for a single letter,
between Liverpool and any Irish port 8_d._, but no letter sent via
Liverpool paid a higher rate than if sent via Holyhead.[614] An
additional halfpenny was also demanded on every single letter passing
between Milford Haven and Waterford, to pay for improvements.[615]
[613] 7 and 8 Geo. IV, c. 21. The postage between Liverpool and Dublin
for a single letter was 13_d._, made up as follows:--
Inland postage to Holyhead 9_d._
For the Conway Bridge 1_d._
" " Menai " 1_d._
Sea postage 2_d._
-----
13_d._
In 1820, the sea rate between Portpatrick and Donaghadee had been raised
by 2_d._ for a single letter, between Liverpool and the Port of Douglas
by 4_d._ (1 Geo. IV, c. 89; 3 Geo. IV, c. 105).
[614] 7 and 8 Geo. IV, c. 21; 1 and 2 Geo. IV, c. 35, secs. 19-20; 6
Geo. IV, c. 28.
[615] 6 and 7 Wm. IV, c. 5.
In 1836, England and France signed a postal treaty by which the rates on
letters between the United Kingdom and France or between any other
country and the United Kingdom through France were materially
reduced.[616] On such letters the method of reckoning postage differed
from the English rule and was as follows: One sheet of paper not
exceeding an ounce in weight and every letter not exceeding one quarter
of an ounce were single letters. Every letter with one enclosure only
and not exceeding an ounce in weight was a double letter. Every letter
containing more than one enclosure and not exceeding half an ounce was a
double letter. If it exceeded half an ounce but not an ounce in weight,
it was a triple letter. If it exceeded an ounce, it paid as four single
letters and for every quarter of an ounce above one ounce it paid an
additional single letter rate.[617] The sender of a letter from Great
Britain to France had the option of prepaying the whole postage, British
and foreign, or the British alone, or neither.[618]
[616] _Acc. & P._, 1837, l. 106. Rates on foreign letters before, and
after the French treaty:--
_Between England and_ _Before_ _After_
France 14_d._ 10_d._
Italy }
Turkey } 23 19
Ionian Isles }
Spain 26 19
by packet 26 26
Portugal via France 26 19
by packet 30 30
Germany via France 20 14
Switzerland 20 14
Holland 16 16
Belgium 16 16
Russia }
Prussia }
Norway } 20 20
Sweden }
_Between England and_ _Before_ _After_
Denmark }
Germany } 20_d._ 20_d._
Gibraltar 34 34
Malta }
Ionian Isles }
Greece } 38 38
Egypt }
Brazil 42 42
Buenos Ayres 42 41
Madeira 31 31
Mexico }
Havana } 36 27
Colombia }
San Domingo 26 27
United States }
and foreign } 26 26
West Indies }
[617] This followed to a certain extent the French system of charging
postage, which depended more upon weight and less upon the number of
enclosures than the English method.
[618] 7 Wm. IV and 1 Vict., c. 34.
In 1837, an act of Parliament was passed, consolidating previous acts
for the regulation of postage rates within Great Britain and Ireland,
between Great Britain and Ireland, and between the United Kingdom and
the colonies and foreign countries. The rates within Great Britain
remained the same as those established by the act of 1812, including the
additional half penny on letters conveyed by mail coaches in Scotland.
In Ireland the rates existing since 1814 still held and between Great
Britain and Ireland the rates established by 7 and 8 Geo. IV, c. 21.
The rates for letters between the United Kingdom and foreign countries
through France and those conveyed directly between the United Kingdom
and France remained the same as had been agreed upon by the Treaty of
1836. Some of the more important of the other rates were as follows:--
To Italy, Sicily, Venetian Lombardy, Malta, the Ionian Islands, Greece,
Turkey, the Levant, the Archipelago, Syria, and Egypt through Belgium,
Holland, or Germany, 20_d._ for a single letter. Between the United
Kingdom and Portugal, 19_d._ for a single letter.
_Single letter_
To or from Gibraltar 23_d._
To or from Malta, the Ionian Islands, Greece, Syria, and Egypt 27_d._
Between Gibraltar (not having been first conveyed there from
the United Kingdom) and Malta, the Ionian Islands, Greece,
Syria, or Egypt[619] 8_d._
Between the United Kingdom and Madeira 20_d._
Between the United Kingdom and the West Indies, Colombia,
and Mexico 25_d._
Between the United Kingdom and Brazil 31_d._
Between the United Kingdom and Buenos Ayres 29_d._
Between the United Kingdom and San Domingo 15_d._
Between the British West Indies and Colombia or Mexico 12_d._
[619] In 1838, it was enacted that the postage on a single letter (not
from the United Kingdom or going there) between any two Mediterranean
ports or from a Mediterranean port to the East Indies should be 6_d._
via the Red Sea or Persian Gulf. The Gibraltar rate remained the same (1
and 2 Vict., c. 97).
Letters between the United Kingdom and Germany, Belgium, Holland,
Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, and Norway were charged in addition the same
postage as if they had been sent from or to London. Letters from and to
France paid no additional postage. All letters to and from
non-commissioned officers, privates and seamen while in actual service
were still carried for one penny each, payable in advance, but letters
sent by them from Ceylon, the East Indies, Mauritius, and the Cape were
charged an additional 2_d._ payable by the receiver.[620]
[620] 7 Wm. IV and 1 Vict., c. 34.
After the transference of the packet boats to the Admiralty in 1837, the
Postmaster-General was authorized to charge regular packet rates for the
conveyance of letters by such ships as he had contracted with for such
conveyance. He might also forward letters by any ships and collect the
following rates for each single letter:--
When the letter was posted in the place from which
the ship sailed except when sailing between Great
Britain and Ireland 8_d._
If posted anywhere else in the United Kingdom 12_d._
Between Great Britain and Ireland in addition to
inland rates 8_d._
For a single letter coming into the United Kingdom
except from Ceylon, the East Indies, Mauritius, and
the Cape in addition to inland rates 8_d._
For letters from Ceylon, the East Indies, Mauritius,
and the Cape in addition to inland rates--
If not exceeding 3 ounces in weight 4_d._
If exceeding 3 ounces in weight 12_d._ an oz.
For letters delivered to the Post Office to be sent
to Ceylon, the East Indies, Mauritius, and the Cape
in addition to all inland rates--
If not exceeding 3 ounces in weight 2_d._
If exceeding 3 ounces in weight 12_d._ an oz.[621]
[621] 7 Wm. IV and I Vict., c. 34.
The end of high postage rates was now at hand. In 1839, the Treasury was
empowered to change the rating according to the weight of the letter or
package,[622] and they proceeded to do so in the case of letters from
one country to another passing through the United Kingdom, between any
two colonies, between any South American ports, and between such ports
and Madeira and the Canaries.[623] Parliament followed up the good work
in 1840 by enacting that in future all letters, packages, etc. should be
charged by weight alone, according to the following scheme:--
On every letter or package, etc.--
Not exceeding 1/2 ounce in weight, one rate of postage.
Exceeding 1/2 ounce but not exceeding 1 ounce, 2 rates of postage.
1 " " " " 2 ounces, 4 " " "
2 ounces " " " 3 " 6 " " "
3 " " " " 4 " 8 " " "
For every ounce above four ounces, two additional rates of postage, and
for every fraction of an ounce above four ounces as for one additional
ounce. No letter or package exceeding one pound in weight was to be sent
through the Post Office except petitions and addresses to the Queen, or
to either House of Parliament, or in such cases as the Treasury Lords
might order by warrant.[624]
[622] 2 and 3 Vict., c. 52.
[623] _Acc. & P._, 1841, xxvi, 53, pp. 1-7.
[624] Additional exceptions were made later in the case of 1. Reissuable
country bank notes delivered at the General Post Office in London. 2.
Deeds, legal proceedings and papers. 3. Letters to and from places
beyond the seas. 4. Letters to and from any government office or
department (or to and from any person having the franking privilege by
virtue of his office). _Acc. & P._ 1841, xxvi, 53, p. 4.
On all letters not exceeding a half-ounce in weight transmitted by the
Post between places in the United Kingdom (not being letters sent to or
from places beyond the seas, or posted in any post town to be delivered
within that town) there was charged a uniform rate of one penny. For all
letters exceeding a half-ounce in weight, additional rates were charged
according to the foregoing scheme, each additional rate for letters
exceeding one ounce in weight being fixed at 2_d._[625]
[625] Double rates were charged when the postage was paid on delivery.
The rates for colonial letters were also adjusted according to weight as
follows: Between any place in the United Kingdom and any port in the
colonies and India (except when passing through France) for a letter not
exceeding half an ounce in weight, 1_s._ Between any of the colonies
through the United Kingdom, 2_s._ If such letters exceeded half an ounce
in weight, they were charged additional rates according to the table
already given, the rate for a letter not exceeding half an ounce being
taken as the basis.
The rates for letters to and from foreign countries were much the same
as they had been before the passage of this act, except that instead of
the initial charge being made for a single letter, it was now reckoned
for a letter not exceeding half an ounce in weight. The rates for
letters to and from France were graded according to the distance they
were carried in England, the lowest rate for a letter not more than half
an ounce in weight being 3_d._ to Dover or the port of arrival, the
highest rate being 10_d._ to any place distant more than fifty miles
from Dover.[626]
[626] 3 and 4 Vict., c. 96.
The franking privilege may reasonably be considered in connection with
the history of postal rates, nor should its effect in reducing the
revenue of the Post Office be neglected. The Council of State gave
orders in 1652 that all public packets, letters of members of
Parliament, of the Council, of officers in the public service, and of
any persons acting in a public capacity should be carried free. This is
the first record that we have concerning the free carriage of members'
letters, a privilege which later gave so much trouble and was so much
abused.[627] The next year the Post Office farmers agreed to carry free
all letters to and from members of Parliament provided that letters
written by such members as were not known by their seals should be
endorsed, "These are for the service of the Commonwealth," and signed by
the members themselves or their clerks.[628] Nothing was said in the act
of 1660 about the conveyance of the letters of members of Parliament and
they were carried free only by act of grace. The House of Commons had
passed a clause of the bill providing for the free conveyance of the
letters of members of their own House. This had exasperated the Lords,
who, since they could not amend the clause so as to extend the privilege
to themselves, had dropped it.[629] In 1693, the attention of Cotton and
Frankland was called to the manner in which franking was being abused.
Men claimed the right to frank letters to whom the Postmasters-General
denied it, and members of Parliament were accused of bad faith in the
exercise of their privilege. The custom had arisen of enclosing private
letters in the packet of official letters. A warrant was issued in 1693
to the effect that in future no letters were to go free except those on
the King's affairs, and the only persons to send or receive them free
were the two principal Secretaries of State, the Secretary for Scotland,
the Secretary in Holland, the Earl of Portland, and members of
Parliament, the latter only during the session, and for forty days
before and after, and for inland letters alone. Each member was to write
his name in a book with his seal so that no one might be able to
counterfeit his signature.[630]
[627] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1651-52, p. 507.
[628] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1652-53, p. 449.
[629] _Parliamentary History of England_, iv (1660-88), col. 163.
[630] _Cal. T. P._, 1557-1696, p. 281.
We learn from Hicks' letters that it was customary for clerks in the
Post Office at London to send gazettes to their correspondents in the
country free of charge. These gazettes or news letters were supplied by
the Treasury and, as 2_d._ or 3_d._ apiece was paid for them by the
recipients, the privilege was greatly esteemed.[631] The Deputy
Postmaster-General wished to abolish the privilege, but Hicks himself,
who was one of the favoured officials, was quite indignant at the
suggestion.[632] The principle was bad, but as the receipts for gazettes
formed a necessary part of the clerks' salaries, Hicks cannot be blamed
for protesting against abolition without compensation. James II
expressed a desire that the practice should be discontinued, but when it
was shown to him that the salaries of the clerks must be raised if his
wishes were obeyed, his proposition was promptly withdrawn.[633]
[631] _Cal. T. B. & P._, 1731-34, pp. 208, 210, 218, 268.
[632] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1667, p. 248.
[633] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1666-67, p.386.
The abuses of the privilege of franking were very pronounced during the
eighteenth century. The system of patronage which the members of
Parliament then exercised made them reluctant to offend any of their
constituents, who might entrench upon their peculiar privileges.
Members' names were forged to letters and they made no complaint.
Letters from the country were sent to them to be re-addressed under
their own signatures. The Postmasters-General admonished them more than
once, but, as a rule, the members disclaimed all knowledge of abuses.
Men were so bold as to order letters to be sent under a member's name to
coffee-houses, where they presented themselves and demanded the letters
so addressed. In 1715, on receiving renewed complaints from the
Postmasters-General, it was ordered by the House that henceforth no
member should frank a letter unless the address were written entirely in
his own hand. This was expected to prevent members from franking letters
sent to them by friends. It was also ordered that no letter addressed to
a member should pass free unless such member was actually residing at
the place to which the letter was addressed. In the third place, no
member was to frank a newspaper unless it was entirely in print. This
was to prevent the franking of long written communications passing as
newspapers, for the members of Parliament in sending and receiving
letters free were restricted to such as did not exceed two ounces in
weight, but they were not so restricted in the case of newspapers.[634]
According to the Surveyor's report, the loss from the ministers' franks
in 1717 was £8270 and from the members' franks £17,470.[635] The loss
from franking was proportionately much greater in Ireland than in
England. In 1718 the Irish Parliament sat only three months, in 1719
nine months, and in Ireland as in England, members of Parliament
received and sent their letters free only during the session and forty
days before and after it. The following is part of the report submitted
by the Postmasters-General to the Lords of the Treasury for these two
years:--
1718 1719
Gross Produce from Letters £14,592 £19,522
Charge of Management and Members' Letters 11,526 18,768
Net Produce from Letters[636] 3,066 754
Under the charges of management is included the charge for carrying
members' letters as reckoned proportionately to the charge for the
letters which paid, together with the actual charge for the pay letters.
The net produce during the three months' session was £3006, during the
nine months' session only £753. In 1734 the old orders about the maximum
weight of two ounces and the requirement for the whole superscription to
be in the member's own writing were repeated in a royal proclamation. In
addition it was ordered that any letters sent under cover to any member
of Parliament or high official of state, to be forwarded by him, should
be sent to the General Post Office to be taxed.[637] It could hardly be
expected that this order would be obeyed, for there was no method of
enforcing it.
[634] _Jo. H. C._, 1714-18, p. 303.
[635] _Cal. T. P._, 1714-19, p. 287.
[636] _Cal. T. P._, 1720-28, p. 77.
[637] _Jo. H. C._, 1732-37, p. 393.
In 1735, the House of Commons instituted an enquiry into the whole
question of franking and summoned various Post Office officials before
them to give evidence. An estimate was laid before them of the amount
lost each year by carrying franked letters. This estimate was obtained
by weighing the franked letters at intervals during the session of
Parliament, and comparing their weight with the weight of the letters
which paid postage. As the total revenue from the latter was known, the
amount which was lost on the former was guessed. The House expressed
very little confidence in the estimated amounts, and certainly it was a
rough way of attaining the object aimed at, but perhaps they were
prejudiced from the strength of the case against them.[638] Expressed in
yearly averages, the amounts by which the revenue was reduced by
franking were:--
1716-19 £17,460
1720-24 23,726
1725-29 32,364
1730-33 36,864
[638] _Ibid._, 1732-37.
The system of ascertaining forged franks and of discovering enclosures
was as follows: a Supervisor of the Franks charged all letters, franked
by a member's name, coming from any place, when he knew that the member
was not there. Very often by holding them in front of a candle, he could
see enclosures inside directed to other people. If he was in doubt he
generally charged the letter, for if it should pay, all well and good,
and if he had made a mistake, the amount was refunded to the member. The
Supervisor had noticed that the number of franked letters had increased
with every session of Parliament, and some of the ex-members also
attempted to frank letters. The evidence of the Supervisor, especially
his description of the manner in which he attempted to discover
enclosures, was exceedingly distasteful to the House. The members
themselves were to blame for many of the abuses attendant upon the
system, and yet they contended that they were the unwilling victims of
others. A resolution was adopted that it was an infringement upon the
privileges of the knights, citizens, and burgesses chosen to represent
the people of Great Britain in Parliament, for any postmaster, his
deputies or agents to open or look into any letter addressed to or
signed by a member of Parliament, unless empowered so to do by a warrant
issued by one of the Secretaries of State. In addition no postmaster or
his deputies should delay or detain any letter directed to or by any
member unless there should be good reason to suppose that the frank was
a counterfeit.[639]
[639] _Jo. H. C._, 1732-37, p. 476.
The restrictions adopted to curtail the abuse of the franking privilege
had but little effect. A regular business sprang up for selling
counterfeit franks. The House of Lords ordered one person accused of
selling them to come before the bar of the House for examination, but he
failed to present himself.[640] Another confessed before the Upper House
that he had counterfeited one of the Lords' names on certain covers of
letters showed to him and had then sold them. He expressed sorrow for
the offence, which necessity had driven him to commit. He was sent to
Newgate.[641] The abuses of the franking system were so patent[642]
that Allen was told that he might withdraw from his contract to farm the
bye and cross post letters on three months' notice being given.[643]
[640] _Jo. H. L._, 1736-41, p. 259.
[641] _Ibid._, p. 529.
[642] One man in five months counterfeited 14,400 franks of members of
Parliament. Counterfeits of names of 27 members were shown. A regular
trade in buying and selling them had sprung up (_Jo. H. C._, 1761-64, p.
998). Several Lords certified that their names had been counterfeited.
Lord Dacre's name had been counterfeited 504 times (_Jo. H. L._,
1760-64, p. 534).
[643] _Cal. T. B. & P._, 1739-41, p. 450.
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
These amounts were obtained by weighing the newspapers and, as this was
the manner in which they would have been rated, the results may be
considered as fairly correct. The idea being to estimate the loss from
members' and states' franks only, the franking by Post Office clerks
does not enter into the following calculation. It was judged from the
figures given above that the Post Office carried free every year enough
newspapers franked by members and state officials to produce £40,000 if
they had been taxed at the ordinary rates.[646] An attempt to arrive at
the same result in another way was also made. The sum total which would
have been paid on all members' and ministers' letters, newspapers, and
parcels arriving at or departing from London in 1763 was £140,000. Of
this amount £85,000 would have been paid on all mail leaving London, and
£55,000 on all mail arriving in London. The difference in favour of the
outgoing mail was judged to be due to the newspapers, all of which were
printed in London and sent to the country. This would give a loss of
£30,000 on newspapers, and £110,000 on letters.[647]
[646] _Jo. H. C._, 1761-64, pp. 1000-1001.
[647] _Ibid._, p. 999.
Returns were also submitted, showing the gross amount of the inland
postage for Great Britain and Ireland, including the amount which the
franked letters and papers would have paid if they had all been charged,
the actual gross product and the difference between the two. This
difference would, of course, be the estimated charge on all the free
matter. These figures are given from 1715 to 1763. Roughly speaking, in
fifty years franked letters and papers increased 700 per cent while pay
letters increased only 50 per cent. In 1715 one fifth as many free
letters and newspapers as those which paid went through the mail. In
1763 there were eleven twelfths as many free letters and papers.[648] It
will be seen that the assumption is that the postage which this free
matter might have paid represented the loss suffered by the Post Office.
Now this is not so, because it did not cost the Post Office so much to
convey letters and papers as the ordinary rates would have paid them. In
the second place the Postal authorities considered the £140,000 as so
much actually lost, whereas if charges had been enforced on the free
matter, a much smaller amount would have been sent. This is entirely
apart from the rough and ready manner in which the figures were
obtained. Enough was shown, however, to prove that the franking system
was a burden to the country and an imposition upon the Post Office.
[648] _Jo. H. C._, p. 999.
In Ireland, Parliament met as a rule only during the even years or if it
met every year, the sessions in the odd years were very short. For the
five even years from 1753 to 1762, the expenses averaged for each year
£3306 over the receipts, while during the five odd years, the receipts
were greater than the expenditures by a yearly average of £2249. These
general results held good for every individual odd or even year for the
period for which returns were given.[649]
[649] _Ibid._, 1761-64, p. 1001.
Attempts continued to be made by members of the House of Commons to
diminish the abuses arising from franking. There had been some
misunderstanding as to whether they were entitled to have ship's letters
delivered free to them. Of course they were exempt from the inland
postage on such letters, but for every letter brought into the country
by vessels other than packets, the master was paid one penny and this
penny was collected from the person to whom the letter was delivered.
The members finally agreed to pay the extra penny.[650]
[650] _Ibid._, 1780-82, p. 537.
Acts were now introduced to enable the Commander-in-Chief, the
Adjutant-General, and the Controller of Accounts of the Royal forces to
receive and send letters free. Both bills passed.[651] It is some
consolation that the Lord Chancellor and Judges failed to obtain the
franking privilege although a bill was introduced in the Commons in
their behalf.[652]
[651] 22 Geo. III, c. 70; 23 Geo. III, c. 69.
[652] _Jo. H. C._, 1790-91, p. 468.
It was enacted in 1784 that a member must write on his free letters not
only his name and address but also the name of the post town from which
they were to be sent and the day of the month and the year when they
were posted.[653] The object of this restriction could be easily evaded
by enclosing postdated letters to their constituents but, after the
passage of this resolution, a considerable decrease resulted in the
number of free letters to and from members.[654] When the Irish was
separated from the English Post Office, the privilege of franking
newspapers to Ireland was taken away and a rate of one penny a newspaper
was imposed, payable in advance. This meant a loss to the clerks in the
Secretaries' offices but this was made good to them by an addition of
£1000 a year to their salaries.[655]
[653] _Ibid._, 1784-85, p. 383. The Lords also agreed to this resolution
(ibid., p.411; 24 Geo. III, sess. 2, c. 37).
[654] For the years 1783 and 1784, the number of free letters arriving
in London, exclusive of the state's letters, averaged over 800,000 a
year and those sent from London averaged over 1,000,000. In 1785, they
had fallen to 514,000 and 713,000 respectively (_Parl. Papers_, 1812-13,
_Rep. Com._, ii, 222, p. 95).
[655] 24 Geo. III, c. 6; _Jo. H. C._, 1795-96, p. 588.
In 1795, the members of Parliament made another attempt to limit their
own as well as the free writing proclivities of others. The maximum
weight of a free letter to or from a member was lowered from two ounces
to one. No letter directed by a member should go free unless the member
so directing it should be within twenty miles of the place where it was
posted either on the day on which it was posted or the day before. No
member should send more than ten or receive more than fifteen free
letters a day. Votes and proceedings in Parliament when addressed to or
by members of Parliament were exempted from the provisions of this
Act.[656]
[656] 35 Geo. III, c. 53. After 1786 the number of franked letters had
gradually increased until checked by this act. In 1795 the number of
franked letters delivered in London was 1,045,000, the number sent from
London 1,195,000. In 1796, the inward and outward free letters amounted
to 737,000 and 787,000 respectively. In 1797 the numbers were 696,000
and 721,000. These restricting acts of 1784 and 1795 had a more
important effect than Joyce leads us to suppose (_Parl. Papers_,
1812-13, _Rep. Com._, ii, 222, p. 95).
The restrictions upon the franking privilege enjoyed by members of
Parliament were re-enacted in 1802 with some additions. The number of
free letters which a member might receive and send in one day having
been limited to twenty-five, it was decided that these twenty-five so
excepted from the payment of postage should be those on which the
charges were the highest, provided that none of them exceeded an ounce
in weight. The high officials of state, the clerks of Parliament,
certain clerks of the Commons and Lords, the Treasurer and Paymaster of
the Navy, the Lord Chancellor, certain officials in Ireland, and two
persons appointed by the Postmaster-General of Ireland were allowed to
send letters free.[657] The members and clerks of both Houses were
allowed to send newspapers free provided that they were enclosed in
covers open at both ends. The same rule held for votes and proceedings
in Parliament.[658] The same franking privileges were extended to Irish
officials.[659]
[657] Those officials in the General Post Office who had no franking
privilege were reimbursed the amount of postage paid by them on inland
single letters (_Rep. Commrs._, 1837, xxxiv, 8th rep., app., no. 2).
[658] 42 Geo. III, c. 63.
[659] 43 Geo. III, c. 28.
From 1806 to 1819 there was a large extension of the franking privilege
to various officials. During that time sixteen statutes and parts of
statutes were enacted in behalf of various persons from the Lord High
Chancellor to the Controller of the Barrack's Department and the
Commissioners of the parliamentary grant for building churches. Sir
Robert Buxton, a member of Parliament, thought that it would be well for
his fellow members to give up their privilege in order to help the
finances of the country. Windham disagreed on the ground that it kept up
communications between a member and his constituents and encouraged
literary correspondence which would otherwise decline. Pitt justified
it, in that it enabled members to carry on the important business of
their constituents and did not result in much loss to the state.[660]
[660] _Parl. Deb._, 1st ser., iii, col. 570. The following are a few of
the statutes enacted which extended franking: 46 Geo. III, c. 61; 50
Geo. III, c. 65, sec. 19; c. 66; 51 Geo. III, c. 16, sec. 17; 52 Geo.
III, c. 132, sec. 16; c. 146, sec. 11; 53 Geo. III, c. 13; 54 Geo. III,
c. 169; 55 Geo. III, c. 1, sec. 10; c. 60, secs. 41-42; 56 Geo. III, c.
98, sec. 24.
It had always been customary to charge letter rates for the conveyance
of newspapers to foreign countries and to the colonies. Members of
Parliament, however, had the privilege of franking newspapers within the
United Kingdom, the clerks of the Foreign Office franked them to foreign
countries, and the Secretary of the Post Office franked them to the
colonies. In 1825 it was enacted that members need no longer sign their
names to newspapers franked by them, or give notice of the names of the
places to which they intended to send them.[661] This virtually provided
for the free transmission of newspapers within the United Kingdom. At
the same time it was provided that the rate for newspapers, votes and
parliamentary proceedings should be 1-1/2_d._ each to the colonies,
payable in advance. Newspapers from the colonies were charged 3_d._
each, payable on delivery. Such newspapers must be posted on the day of
publication, must contain no writing, and must be enclosed in covers
open at both ends.[662] Two years later the charge for votes and
parliamentary proceedings to and from the colonies was fixed at
1-1/2_d._ an ounce. Newspapers brought from the colonies by private
vessels were to be charged 3_d._ each, the same as the packet rate,[663]
but in 1835 colonial newspapers by private vessels were allowed to come
in for a penny each, and the same rate was charged for English
newspapers sent to the colonies by private vessels. By the same act the
postage on newspapers passing between the United Kingdom and any foreign
country which charged no inland rate for their conveyance was fixed at a
penny each. If an inland rate was charged, the postage was to be 2_d._
for each newspaper plus the foreign rate.[664]
[661] 6 Geo. IV, c. 68, sec. 10.
[662] 6 Geo. IV, c. 68; London _Times_, 1825, June 11, p. 3; July 29, p.
2.
[663] 7 and 8 Geo. IV, c. 21.
[664] 5 and 6 Wm. IV, c. 25. Before the passage of this act newspapers
passed free by the packets and posts to and from Hamburg, Bremen, and
Cuxhaven (London _Times_, 1834, Oct. 30, p. 2).
During the following year, all the regulations concerning the conveyance
of newspapers, votes, and proceedings in Parliament etc. were embodied
in one act. Within the United Kingdom all newspapers which had paid the
stamp duty were to go free except those which were sent through the
Twopenny Post and delivered by it, not having passed by the General
Post, and except those posted and delivered within the same town. In
both of these cases one penny was charged. To and from the colonies no
rate was demanded when newspapers were sent by the regular packets. If
sent by private vessels one penny was payable, which went to the master.
The rate to and from foreign countries was fixed at 2_d._ for each
paper, but if a foreign state agreed to charge no postage on English
newspapers, no postage should be charged on the newspapers of such
foreign state, when brought to England by the packet boats. If brought
by private vessels, a penny was payable for each paper, to go to the
master. All newspapers, in order to receive the advantage of these low
rates or to go free, had to be posted within seven days after
publication and to contain no writing except the name and address of the
person to whom they were to be sent. In addition the newspaper must have
no cover or one open at both ends.[665]
[665] 6 and 7 Wm. IV, c. 25.
The following additions and changes in the regulations for the carriage
of newspapers were made in 1837. One penny was to be paid for their
conveyance by private vessels between different parts of the United
Kingdom. Between the colonies and foreign countries through the United
Kingdom, newspapers should go free if conveyed by the packets and should
pay a penny each if conveyed by private vessels. Parliamentary
proceedings conveyed between the colonies and the United Kingdom, if
sent by packet boats and not exceeding one ounce in weight, were charged
1-1/2_d._ each. When in excess of one ounce they paid 1-1/2_d._ for each
additional ounce. Pamphlets, magazines and other periodical publications
for the colonies, if not exceeding six ounces in weight, paid 12_d._
when carried by the packets. For every additional ounce, 3_d._ was
charged. Bankers' re-issuable notes were carried at one quarter the
regular postage.[666] Patterns, with no writing enclosed and not
exceeding one ounce in weight, paid a single letter rate.[667] Any
newspaper which had been posted in violation of any regulation for the
conveyance of newspapers was charged three times the regular letter
postage.[668]
[666] In Great Britain re-issuable notes of country banks paid in London
were conveyed by the post to the issuing bank at one quarter the regular
rates for letters, but parcels of notes had to exceed six ounces in
weight and contain no other matter (5 Geo. IV, c. 20).
[667] 7 Wm. IV and 1 Vict., c. 34.
[668] 7 Wm. IV. and 1 Vict., c. 36.
Franking and the privilege of sending and receiving letters free from
postage did not at any time extend to letters liable to foreign postage
except in the case of public despatches to and from the Secretaries of
State and British Ambassadors.[669] The owners, charterers and
consignees of vessels inward bound were allowed to receive letters free
from sea postage to the maximum of six ounces for each man, but in the
case of ships coming from the East Indies, Ceylon, Mauritius, and the
Cape, the maximum was twenty ounces.[670] Within the kingdom, writs for
the election of members of the House of Commons and for those Scotch and
Irish peers who were elected, were allowed to go free.[671] All persons
who were allowed to frank letters within the Kingdom were grouped in ten
classes. Members of Parliament were placed in the first class and their
letters were subject to the old restrictions as to number,[672]
superscription, name of post town, date, and place of residence. They
might also receive petitions free, provided that each did not exceed six
ounces in weight. They might send free printed votes and proceedings in
Parliament.
[669] 5 and 6 Wm. IV, c. 25.
[670] 7 Wm. IV and 1 Vict., c. 34. Maximum increased to thirty ounces by
7 Wm. IV and 1 Vict., c. 25.
[671] 53 Geo. III, c. 89; 7 Wm. IV and 1 Vict., c. 32.
[672] Wallace, the postal reformer, declared that other members had been
in the habit of receiving more than fifteen free letters in a day and
that, too, with Freeling's consent (_Parl. Deb._, 3d series, xxiv, col.
1001).
Officials of both Houses of Parliament were in the second class. They
were subject to the same restrictions as the first class, except that
the number of their letters was not limited and each letter might weigh
two ounces.
The third class was composed of members of the Treasury Department and
the Postmaster-General and his secretaries. Their franking privilege was
unlimited as to the weight and number of letters nor were they required
to insert the name of the post town or the date.
The fourth class, composed of heads of departments, might send and
receive letters with no limit as to number or weight.
The fifth class, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland and the Irish
Surveyors, had unlimited franking rights within Ireland. All the letters
of these five classes were subject to the following restrictions with
the exception of the third class. The whole superscription of the
letters sent must be in the hand of the privileged person, with his name
and the name of the post town from which the letters were sent together
with the date, and on that date or the day before, the writer must be
within twenty miles of the place where the letters were posted.
The other five classes were made up of subordinate members of
departments, clerks, secretaries etc. when writing or receiving letters
on official business. Every such letter had to be superscribed with the
name of the office and the seal and name of the writer.[673]
[673] 7 Wm. IV. and 1 Vict., c. 35.
It appeared from a report of a committee appointed to investigate postal
affairs that the total number of franks had increased from 3,039,000 in
1810 to 4,142,000 in 1820; 4,792,000 in 1830 and 5,270,000 in 1837. Of
these, members of the two Houses were responsible for 2,028,000;
2,726,000; 2,814,000 and 3,084,000 at the above dates respectively.[674]
In concluding their report the Committee recommended the abolition of
Parliamentary franking.[675] This advice was followed and improved upon
two years later when franking and the privilege of sending or receiving
letters free were abolished, except in the case of petitions to the
Queen or Parliament not exceeding 32 ounces in weight.[676]
[674] _Rep. Com._, 1837-38, xx, 2d rep., app., p. 109.
[675] _Ibid._, xx, 3d rep., p. 62.
[676] 3 and 4 Vict., c. 96. Recent attempts by certain members of
Parliament to revive the franking privilege have fortunately been
unsuccessful (_Parl. Deb._, 4th ser., lxxxi, col. 1407; civ, col. 360).
No further reduction in inland postage rates was adopted until the net
revenue of the Post Office had pretty well recovered from the blow
received by the adoption of penny postage.[677] Such reduction was
finally granted in 1865, applying only to letters weighing more than one
ounce each, the increases in weight being graduated by half ounces with
a penny for each additional half ounce instead of 2_d._ for each
additional ounce as before. Corresponding reductions were made at the
same time in the book post and the pattern and sample post, and were
made applicable to correspondence with British North America and the
British possessions in Europe.[678] In 1870, when the impressed
newspaper stamp was finally abolished, the rate on prepaid newspapers
was reduced to a halfpenny each whether sent singly or in packages, but
no package was to be charged higher than the book post rate. Unpaid
newspapers were charged a penny for each two ounces or fraction thereof.
The book post rate was reduced at the same time to a halfpenny for each
two ounces or fraction thereof. The rate for patterns and samples, which
had formerly been 2_d._ for the initial four ounces, was altered to the
existing book post rate with a maximum of twelve ounces only. In 1871
the inland letter rate was fixed at a penny for the initial ounce, a
halfpenny for the next ounce and for each additional two ounces, and the
sample and pattern post was incorporated with the inland letter post. A
separate sample and pattern post was reëstablished in 1887, only to be
incorporated for a second time with the letter post ten years
later.[679] An additional charge for re-directed letters was made when
the re-direction necessitated a change from the original delivery, but
the charge was such only as they would be liable to if prepaid. An
exception was made in the case of letters re-directed to sailors or
soldiers, no additional charge being then made, provided that the rate
was not a foreign one. This privilege was later extended to commissioned
officers and the exemption extended to foreign rates as well.[680] In
1891 all charges for the re-direction of letters were abolished,
followed three years later by a like abolition in the case of all other
postal matter, and in 1900 the charge for notice of removal and
re-direction after the first year was reduced from £1 1_s._ to 1_s._ for
the second and third and 5_s._ for subsequent years.[681]
[677] But in 1861 the registration fee was reduced from 6_d._ to 4_d._
and a double fee charged for compulsory registration (_Rep. P. G._,
1862, pp. 9-10).
[678] _Rep. P. G._, 1866, p. 12.
[679] _Ibid._, 1870, pp. 3-5; 1897, p. 5; 1896, p. 2; 1898, pp. 1-2.
[680] 3 and 4 Vict., c. 96; 10 and 11 Vict., c. 85; 23 and 24 Vict., c.
65.
[681] _Rep. P. G._, 1892, p. 8; 1894, p.2; 1895, p. 4; 1901, p. 4.
With an increase in the number of valuable articles carried by post and
better arrangements for their safe keeping, it was found possible to
reduce the registration fee from 11_d._ to 6_d._, then to 4_d._ and
eventually to 2_d._ At the time of the first reduction, a rule was
issued for the compulsory registration by the Post Office of all letters
unquestionably containing coin, for the sake of letter carriers and
others rather than the protection of the public. The Post Office did not
at the time of the first reduction hold itself responsible for the full
value of the contents of a lost registered letter but was accustomed to
remunerate the sender where the contents were proved, were of moderate
amount, and the fault clearly lay with the Post Office. In 1878 it
agreed to make good up to £2 the value of the contents of any registered
letter which it lost, stipulating in the case of money that it had been
sent securely and in one of its own envelopes. Compulsory registration
by the Post Office was also extended to include uncrossed cheques and
postal orders to which the name of the payee had not been appended.[682]
[682] _Rep._ P. G., 1862, pp. 9-10; 1879, p. 13; 1897, p. 5.
An inland parcel post was not established in England until 1883. An
initial rate of 3_d._ was imposed for the first pound, increasing by
increments of 3_d._ to 1_s._ for the seventh pound. Later the maximum
weight was increased to 11 pounds, the maximum charge to 1_s._ 6_d._ In
1905 a further reduction followed on parcels weighing more than four
pounds.[683]
[683] _Ibid._, 1896, p. 3; 1882, p. 3; 1906, p. 1.
The use of postcards was first permitted in England in 1870, a charge of
a halfpenny a dozen being made in addition to the stamp. In 1875 this
additional charge was increased to a penny a dozen for thin cards, 2_d._
for stout cards. In 1899 these prices were reduced to a penny for ten
stout cards, a halfpenny for ten thin ones, and the latter began rapidly
to displace the former. Private post cards were first allowed to pass
through the post in 1894 for a halfpenny each, and two years later the
charge on unpaid inland post cards was reduced from 2_d._ to a
penny.[684] At the same time that the use of post cards was allowed, a
half penny post was introduced for certain classes of formal printed
documents.[685]
[684] _Ibid._, 1896, p. 2; 1889, p. 2; 1897, p. 5; 1895, p. 18.
[685] _Ibid._, 1903, p. 5.
In 1884 the scale of postage applicable to inland letters between two
and twelve ounces in weight was continued without limit. The resulting
rates were as follows: for the first ounce, one penny; for two ounces,
1-1/2_d._; for all greater weights, a halfpenny for every two ounces
plus an initial penny. On the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of
the late Queen's accession to the throne, further decreases were
announced in the postage on inland letters. The weight carried by the
initial penny was extended from one to four ounces, the postage for
heavier letters increasing as before at the rate of a halfpenny for each
additional two ounces.[686]
[686] _Rep. P. G._, 1885, p. 14; 1898, pp. 1-2.
The decrease in postage for inland matter was accompanied by lower rates
for colonial and foreign letters. Although the proposal of the Marquis
of Clanricarde to establish a definite shilling[687] rate for all
colonial letters was not immediately adopted, it was not long before
even lower rates were accepted. The Marquis' plan was communicated to
the Treasury Lords in 1850 purely on Imperial grounds, "to strengthen
the ties between the colonies and the mother country." Rates other than
those on letters were even then far from excessive. Newspapers, for
instance, often passed free or they were charged a penny each either in
England or the colony, but not in both. Parliamentary proceedings paid
but one penny, sometimes 2_d._ per quarter-pound, books 6_d._ per
half-pound. A few years later a 6_d._ letter rate was adopted for all
parts of the Empire except India, the Cape, Mauritius, and Van Diemen's
Land. In 1857 the 6_d._ rate per half-ounce was extended to all the
colonies and in 1868 to the United States. In the following year this
rate was lowered to 3_d._ for letters to the United States, Canada and
Prince Edward Island.[688] In 1890 this rate in the case of most of the
colonies, and some foreign countries, was still further reduced to
2-1/2_d._, partly no doubt on account of the crusade which Mr. Heaton
had undertaken for penny postage within the Empire.[689] In 1898 his
penny aspirations were realized for all the important colonies with the
exception of the Australasian and South African, and in 1905 these too
fell into line and were joined by Egypt and the Soudan.[690] In 1907,
the experiment was tried of charging the comparatively nominal sum of
one penny a pound on British newspapers, magazines, and trade journals
for Canada, duly registered for the purpose, when sent by direct
Canadian packet. This rate is less than the cost but the loss is
diminished by the fact that the Dominion Government relieves the British
Post Office of the whole cost of ocean transit by the Canadian
subsidized lines.[691]
[687] Even at this time (1850) the shilling rate was the rule.
[688] _Acc. & P._, 1852-53, xcv., 204, pp. 2-3; _Rep. P. G._, 1855, pp.
36-37; 1858, p. 20; _Rep. Com._, 1868-69, vi, p. iv; _Rep. P. G._, 1871,
app., p. 29; 1870, pp. 6-7.
[689] _Ibid._, 1891, p. 6; app., p. 39.
[690] _Ibid._, 1899, p. 7; 1906, p. 1.
[691] _Rep. P. G._, 1907, pp. 4-5.
In 1863 arrangements were made with the principal European countries for
a marked reduction in letter postage rates. With France a rate of 8_d._
or 10_d._ for a quarter of an ounce, according to the country in which
the postage was paid, had existed. This was reduced to 4_d._ payable in
either country. With Italy and Spain the existing rates of 1_s._ 1_d._
and 10_d._ respectively for a quarter of an ounce were reduced to 6_d._
The Belgian sixpenny half-ounce rate was made 4_d._, and with the German
Postal Union the rate was reduced from 8_d._ to 6_d._ for a half-ounce
letter. In general these were prepaid rates.[692] The first Postal Union
meeting at Berne in 1874 reduced still further the old rates and
simplified the rules for the settlement of postal payments between the
subscribing nations. A uniform rate for prepaid letters of 2-1/2_d._ the
half ounce was agreed to, 5_d._ for an unpaid letter. Post cards were
charged at half the rate of a prepaid letter, newspapers a penny for
four ounces, printed papers (other than newspapers), books, legal and
commercial documents, and samples of merchandise a penny for two
ounces.[693] In 1891 the uniform letter rate existing among those
countries in Europe which were members of the Postal Union was extended,
so far as the United Kingdom was concerned, to all parts of the globe.
On the first of October, 1907, a further reduction was made when the
unit of weight for outward foreign and colonial letters was raised from
half an ounce to an ounce, and the charge on foreign letters for each
unit after the first was reduced from 2-1/2_d._ to 1-1/2_d._[694]
[692] _Ibid._, 1864, p. 21; 1859, pp. 19-20.
[693] _Ibid._, 1875, p. 13.
[694] _Ibid._, 1892, p. 8; 1906, pp. 1-2.
Shortly after acquiring the money order business from the managing
proprietors, the Post Office reduced the rates of commission to 3_d._
for orders not exceeding £2 in value, and 6_d._ for orders above £2 but
not over £5, the latter sum being at that time the maximum. In 1862 the
issue of orders for larger sums was allowed at the following rates:
9_d._ when not in excess of £7, and 12_d._ between £7 and £10. On the
first day of May, 1871, a further reduction was made and the following
scale of charges announced: for sums under 10_s._, a penny; between
10_s._ and £1, 2_d._; between £1 and £2, 3_d._, and an additional penny
for each additional pound to the £10 limit. It was found, however, that
the low rate of a penny for small orders did not pay, and a decision was
reached to raise the rate for these small orders and provide a cheaper
means for their remittance by post. In pursuance of this policy the rate
for orders under 10_s._ was increased to 2_d._, for orders between
10_s._ and £1 to 3_d._, and in 1881 the following rates were announced
for postal notes: a halfpenny for notes of the value of 1_s._ and 1_s._
6_d._; a penny for notes of the value of 2_s._ 6_d._, 5_s._ and 7_s._,
6_d._ and 2_d._ for notes costing 10_s._, 12_s._ 6_d._, 15_s._, 17_s._
6_d._, and 20_s._ In 1884 a new series of postal orders was issued, the
12_s._ 6_d._ and 17_s._ 6_d._ notes being dropped and new notes issued
of the value of 2_s._, 3_s._, 3_s._ 6_d._, 4_s._, 4_s._ 6_d._, 10_s._
6_d._ for a penny each and the rate on the 15_s._ and 20_s._ notes was
reduced to 1-1/2_d._ In 1903 still others were introduced with the
result that a postal order may now be obtained for every complete 6_d._
from 6_d._ to 20_s._ and for 21_s._ and broken sums to the value of
5_d._ may be made up by affixing postage stamps. Finally, in 1905, the
poundage on postal notes for 2_s._ and 2_s._ 6_d._ was reduced from
1_d._ to a halfpenny, and on postal orders for 11_s._ to 15_s._
inclusive from 1-1/2_d._ to 1_d._ In 1886 the money order rates were
reduced as follows:--
_d._
On sums not exceeding £1 2
£2 3
£4 4
£7 5
£10 6
These rates were in their turn altered as follows on February 1, 1897:--
_d._
For an order not exceeding £3 3
Over £3 but not exceeding £10 4
Upon the representation of the Friendly Societies, which send a good
many small orders, these rates were changed in May of the same year to
the following:--
_d._
For an order not exceeding £1 2
exceeding £1 but not over £3 3
exceeding £3 but not over £10 4
And finally in 1903 the maximum amount of a money order was raised from
£10 to £40 and the following rates established:[695]--
_d._
For sums not exceeding £1 2
For sums above £1 but not exceeding £3 3
£3 £10 4
£10 £20 6
£20 £30 8
£30 £40 10
In addition to the reductions in rates which have been outlined above,
other changes have been made which have resulted in certain cases in a
saving to the transmitter of a money order. The charge for correcting or
altering the name of the remitter or payee of an inland order has been
reduced to the fixed sum of a penny. The fee payable for stopping
payment of an inland order was fixed at 4_d._, and this was made to
cover the issue of a new order if the request was made at the time of
stopping payment. A penny stamp need no longer be affixed to a money
order when payment is deferred and payment may be deferred for any
period not exceeding ten days.[696]
[695] _Rep. P. G._, 1896, pp. 26-32; 1897, pp. 10-11; 1904, pp. 11-12;
1906, p. 1.
[696] _Ibid._, 1897, pp. 10-11.
The issue of telegraph money orders, commenced in 1889 as an experiment,
was in 1892 extended to all money order offices which were also
telegraph offices. The limit imposed was £10, the rates being
_d._
On orders not exceeding £1 4
£2 6
£4 8
£7 10
£10 12
There was an additional charge of at least 9_d._ for the official
telegram, authorizing payment, which was sent in duplicate. When several
orders were sent at the same time and the total amount did not exceed
£50, only one official telegram was sent and paid for. The above rates
were lowered in 1897 to 4_d._ for sums not in excess of £3, and 6_d._
for sums from £3 to £10 with a minimum charge of 6_d._ for the official
telegram of advice.[697] At the present time inland telegraph money
orders may be issued for the same amounts as ordinary inland money
orders and at the same rates, plus a fee of 2_d._ and the cost of the
official telegram.
[697] _Rep. P. G._, 1896, pp. 30-32.
During the Crimean War, the Army Post Office was authorized to issue
money orders at inland rates and the system was extended to Gibraltar
and Malta. In 1858 a proposition advanced by Canada for the interchange
of money orders was favourably received by the Home Government, and in
the following year provision was made for their issue between the United
Kingdom and Canada at four times the inland rates, to a limit of £5. In
1862 the system was extended to all the colonies, the rates being the
same as those already agreed upon with Canada except in the case of
Gibraltar and Malta where they were three times the inland rates, and
the maximum was increased to £10. In 1868 a money order convention was
concluded with Switzerland, the rates being the same as those for inland
orders, and in 1869 a similar agreement was made with Belgium, but in
1871 the rates for both countries were increased to three times the
inland rates upon the same terms as those prevailing with other parts of
Europe. In 1880 colonial rates were reduced to the same level, and in
1883 the following changes were adopted:
_d._
On orders not exceeding £2 6
£5 12
£7 18
£10 24
These were superseded in 1896 by the following rates:--
_d._
On orders not exceeding £2 6
£6 12
£10 18
By 1903 most foreign countries and some of the colonies had agreed to a
further reduction of rates and to a £40 limit. In 1905 the poundage on
foreign money orders not exceeding £1 in value was diminished from 4_d._
to 3_d._[698]
[698] _Rep. P. G._, 1896, pp. 28-30; 1897, pp. 10-11; 1904, p. 11; 1906,
p. 1.
There is no record of the yearly expenses of the Government for the
maintenance of the posts until the accession of James I.[699] There are
many instances of the issue of warrants for the payment of the posts but
it is not known how long a period they were intended to cover.[700]
There was no systematic financial method in dealing with this phase of
the postal question. The postmen remained unpaid for years at a time.
After sufficient clamour, part of the arrears would be met, but it is
impossible to say how much of the sum paid was for current expenses and
how much for old debts.[701] It might be supposed from the fact that
they received fixed daily wages that some idea might be obtained of the
cost of management. But their wages often remained unpaid and the number
of postmen varied, as new routes were manned or old routes discontinued,
so that any figures for the period before the seventeenth century would
be mere guesses.
[699] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 48 (25).
[700] _L. & P. Hen. VIII_, ii, pp. 1444-51-53-57-58-60-62-63-66-72; _A.
P. C._, 1547-50, pp. 111, 278, 307, 319, 413; 1552-54, pp. 74, 137, 402.
[701] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1623-25, pp. 55, 285; 1628-29, p. 184; 1629-31,
pp. 379, 440.
Until 1626[702] our knowledge of the finances of the Post Office is
concerned with expenses only, for there was no product, gross or net,
for the state. In 1603, the cost of the posts was £4150 a year.[703]
This was the year of James the First's accession, and to this is
probably due the fact that payment was made for an entire year. Then
there comes a break of several years' duration. In 1621, arrears for the
half year ending March 31, 1619, were paid. They amounted to £917. For
the next two years the yearly expenses averaged £2984. The total
expenses for the financial year ending in March, 1621, were £3404. All
the posts to Berwick received 92_s._ a day, to Dover 17_s._ 6_d._, to
Holyhead 36_s._ 8_d._ and £130 a year for a sailing packet, to Plymouth
25_s._ a day. The wages for each postmaster varied from 1_s._ 8_d._ to
4_s._ 4_d._ a day. In addition there was an expenditure of £50 for
extraordinary posts and 5_s._ a day to the paymaster.[704] In 1625, the
ordinary expenses were about £4300 a year.[705] It is disappointing not
to be able to make any more definite statements concerning the financial
operations of the Post Office before 1635, but the unbusinesslike system
under which it was conducted must take the blame.
[702] The proceeds from de Quester's rates, which went into effect from
this year, may possibly have gone to the Post Office. After Witherings'
rates were announced in 1635, they certainly did.
[703] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1603-10, p. 9.
[704] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 43 (21).
[705] Hist. MSS. Com., _Rep._, 12, app., pt. 4, p. 472.
Our ideas of the financial operations of the Post Office from 1635 to
1711 are somewhat clearer than during the preceding period. We know that
Witherings' aim was to make the system self-supporting. It had probably
not entered into his head that it might ever be anything more. After the
sequestration of the position of Postmaster-General to Burlamachi, he
was called upon to render an account of the financial proceedings of the
Post Office during the short period that he was in charge.[706] He
reported that from August 4, 1640, to December 25, 1641, the receipts
had been £8363 and the expenditure £4867. £1400 of the balance had been
paid to the Secretary of State and "of the remaining £2000, those that
keep the office are to be considered for their pains and attendance."
This is rather vague but the report shows that the Post Office was
self-supporting only six years after Witherings' reforms had been
adopted.[707] Prideaux reported at an early period in his régime that,
with the exception of the Dover road and the Holyhead packet, the posts
paid for themselves.[708] After the Post Office was farmed, there can be
no doubt as to the total net revenue, but it is impossible to say how
much the farmer made over and above the amount of his farm or how large
his expenses were. Manley paid the state £10,000 a year and is said to
have made £14,000 during the six years that he farmed the Posts.[709] In
1659 the rent was raised to £14,000[710] a year, and in 1660 there was a
further advance to £21,500.[711] Of this £21,500 the Duke of York
received £16,117 and the rest was spent largely in paying pensions and
for a few minor expenses such as the payment of the Court
Postmaster.[712] By the act of 1663, the net Post Office revenue was
settled upon the Duke of York and his male heirs, with the exception of
about £5000 a year, that being the amount of the pension charges on the
revenue.[713] Certain deductions were made from the sum total of rent
due, on account of the loss to the farmer from the activity of the
interlopers, and the deficit was ordered to be made up from some other
branch of the royal revenue.[714]
[706] _Cal. T. P._, 1697-1702, p. 289.
[707] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1641-43, p. 213.
[708] _Jo. H. C._, 1648-51, p. 385.
[709] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1653-54, p. 365.
[710] Hist. MSS. Com., _Rep._, 15, app., pt. 1, p. 97.
[711] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 76 (53).
[712] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1661-62, pp. 122, 245.
[713] 15 Chas. II, c. 14.
[714] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1663-64, p. 598.
After James II took his involuntary departure from England, his
pecuniary interest in the Post Office ceased. In 1690, an act of
Parliament was passed, making the receipts from the Post Office payable
into the Exchequer. They were to be used among other things to pay the
interest on £250,000 borrowed to carry on the war.[715] From 1690 to
1710, the gross receipts rose from about £70,000 to £90,000 a year, no
consideration being taken of the ups and downs caused by the French
wars.[716] Complaint was made by the Lords that a large part of the
postal revenue was wasted in paying pensions.[717] The Duchess of
Cleveland received £4700 a year and William's Dutch General, the Duke of
Schomberg, £4000 a year. Poor William Dockwra, the only one of the lot
who had ever done anything for the Post Office, was at the end of the
list with only £500 a year, terminable in 1697.[718] The sum total of
money payable in pensions from the post revenue in 1695 was £21,200. The
packet boats at the same time cost £13,000, and but £10,000 was spent
for salaries and wages. The net revenue in 1694 was £59,972, the gross
being about £88,000.[719]
[715] Hist. MSS. Com., _Rep._, 13, app., pt. 5, p. 81.
[716] Hist. MSS. Com., _Rep._, 13, app., pt. 5, p. 362.
[717] Hist. MSS. Com., _Rep._, 13, app., pt. 5, p. 406.
[718] Hist. MSS. Com., _House of Lords_, i, pp. 84-87.
[719] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 93 (66).
During the eighteenth century the postal revenue still continued to be
burdened with the pensions of favourites, deserving and undeserving.
Queen Anne asked Parliament to settle £5000 a year upon the Duke of
Marlborough and his heirs. The House of Commons replied that they very
much regretted that they could not do so for the Post Office was
already paying too much in pensions. Probably the real reason for their
refusal was the fact that the Duke and the war party were becoming
unpopular. However, the Queen granted him the pension for her own life
as she had a legal right to do. In 1713, the total amount of pensions
payable from the postal revenue was £22,120. Before the act of 1711 was
passed, the Scotch Office had paid £210 to each of the Universities of
Edinburgh and Glasgow. This continued to be granted after the two
Offices were united.[720]
[720] _Cal. T. P._, 1708-14, p. 20.
Our knowledge of the financial operations of the Post Office during the
eighteenth century is much more extensive than during the seventeenth,
owing to the reports made by the Post Office officials to the
Parliamentary committees, appointed to enquire into abuses. The reports
are all signed by the Accountant-General or his deputy, and are
therefore as trustworthy as anything which can be obtained. They show
that during the first half of the century, or more explicitly from 1717
to 1754, there was a very small annual increase in gross product, with
an actual decrease in net product, and of course an increase in
expenditure. In round numbers the average yearly gross product for the
years 1725-29 was £179,000, the net product for the same period being
£98,000 and the expenses of management £81,000. For the five years from
1750 to 1754, the average annual gross product was £207,000, net product
£97,000, and expenses £110,000. It is not surprising that there was no
increase worthy of the name in the gross product, for the period under
consideration was a time of stagnation, an intermediate stage just
before the dawn of the industrial revolution. The actual decrease in net
product or, what amounts to the same thing, the increase in expenses of
management, is due largely to the abuse of the franking privilege, the
large amounts received in fees and emoluments, the extraordinary way in
which the packet service was mismanaged, and the losses and increased
expense due to war. Enough has been said about all but the last of these
causes. The Post Office suffered most during war from increased expenses
and direct losses in connection with the sailing packets. The placing of
these upon a war footing involved considerable increased cost. In the
second place, extra boats were used for political purposes in addition
to those regularly employed, and it was customary for the Post Office to
make good to the owners all damages inflicted by the enemy. From 1725 to
1739, the expenses of the Post Office averaged £80,000 or £90,000 a
year. Then came the War of the Austrian Succession, when the expenses
averaged £105,000 per year from 1745 to 1749. The five following years
being a period of peace, the average annual expenses were £110,000,
while the Seven Years' War brought them up to £147,000. It may be
thought that expenses should become normal again when war has ceased,
but it has generally proved to be the rule that although peace brings a
decrease, yet the expenditure does not fall quite so low as before the
war.
From 1755 to the end of the century there is a marked rise both in gross
and net receipts and a comparative diminution in expenses. The gross
average annual product from 1755 to 1759 was £228,000, from 1790 to 1794
it was £602,000. For the five years from 1755 to 1759 the average yearly
net product was £81,000, from 1790 to 1794 it was £375,000, while
expenses had risen for the same periods only from £147,000 to £227,000.
The following table shows the average yearly increase or decrease in
gross product, expenses, and net products for the six five-year periods
from 1765 to 1794. The increases or decreases are given in the form of
percentages, each five-year period being compared with the preceding
period.[721]
_Gross product_ _Expenses_ _Net product_
1765-69 17% increase 22% decrease 76% increase
1770-74 11 " 27 increase unchanged
1775-79 12 " 30 " "
1780-84 19 " 37 " "
1785-89[722] 21 " 21 decrease 90% increase
1790-94 24 " 14 increase 30% "
[721] For the gross product, net product, and expenses for each year,
see Appendix, pp. 243, 244, 245, Tables I, II.
[722] Rates were increased in 1784.
The net product from both the Scotch and Irish Posts was remitted to
England. These receipts did not amount to much as compared with those
from the English Post. Earl Temple, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in
writing to Grenville in 1784, said that the Irish post "had never paid
£8000 a year clear of expenses."[723] In 1796, the gross product was
£26,949 and the expenses of management £8718. Of the net product, £6651
were retained, being placed to the credit of Great Britain for returned
and missent letters and for the £4000 which the Irish Post was entitled
to receive in lieu of the receipts from the Holyhead packet boats. The
remaining £11,579 were sent to the general Post Office. The Scotch Posts
did considerably better. The gross product in 1796 was £69,338, the
expenses of management £14,346, for returned letters £1206, and the net
product sent to the General Office was £54,265.
[723] Hist. MSS. Com., _Dropmore_, i, p. 179.
The time had long since passed when the London-Dover road was the most
important in the kingdom and when the receipts from foreign exceeded
those from inland letters. As late as 1653, when contracts were called
for from those wishing to farm the posts, the amount offered in one
instance was almost as great for the foreign as for the inland post. The
average annual gross product from the foreign post for the period
1785-89 was £61,431, the expenses £32,169 and the net product £29,262.
For the period from 1790 to 1794 there was a small increase to £65,497
for gross product, £34,277 for expenses, and £31,200 for net
product.[724]
[724] _Parl. Papers_, 1812-13, _Rep. Com._, ii, 222, p. 93.
The receipts from the London Penny Post were never an important factor
in postal finance but it had always paid for itself and given a
reasonable surplus. Its importance was due more to its social value in
affording a cheaper letter rate and a speedier postal service than the
General Post. The average yearly gross product from 1785-94 was £10,508,
expenses £5177, and net product £5331. After Johnson had improved it so
much, it produced a yearly average gross product from 1795 to 1797 of
£26,283. Expenses averaged £18,960 and net product £7323.
In the seventeenth century the receipts from bye and cross post letters
amounted to very little. So little was expected from them that no
provision was made for checking the postage on them. It was taken for
granted that all letters would pass to, from, or through London. In 1720
they brought in only £3700. Allen had done much to increase the
revenue, but it was not until the last part of the eighteenth century
that the increase was at all marked. From 1780 to 1784, the average
annual gross product was £77,911, expenses £12,346 and net product
£65,565. From 1785 to 1789, these had increased respectively to
£104,817, £11,589, and £93,228, and from 1790 to 1794 to £140,974,
£15,030, and £125,944. The small expense for these letters is explained
by the fact that the separate department for bye and cross post letters
was debited with only a portion of the total cost, the larger part being
carried by the general establishment.[725]
[725] _Parl. Papers_, 1812-13, _Rep. Com._, ii, 222, p. 91.
The financial history of the Post Office from the beginning of the
nineteenth century to 1838 is a rather depressing record.[726] From 1805
until 1820 both the gross and net receipts had increased steadily
although not rapidly, but for the remainder of the period the revenue
was practically stationary. During the five-year periods, 1820-24 and
1830-34, there had been a decrease in gross receipts, and during the
latter of these periods the net receipts had been kept a little ahead of
the five-year period 1815-19 only by a decrease in expenditure.
[726] See Appendix, p. 246, Table III; p. 247, Table IV.
The annual gross receipts from Scotland had increased from £117,108
during the period 1800-04 to £204,481 during the period 1830-34, the
annual net receipts for the same periods being £98,156 and £149,752. The
relatively large increase in expenses from £18,952 to £54,729 had been
due largely to the payment of mail coach tolls after 1814, amounting to
something under £20,000 a year.[727] Ireland started with a smaller
gross revenue, £92,745 a year during the period 1800-04, but a larger
annual expenditure £64,368,[728] and comparatively small net receipts of
£28,377. Gross receipts, expenses, and net receipts had increased slowly
throughout the first thirty-four years of the nineteenth century with
the exception of the period 1820-24. For the five years from 1830 to
1834 inclusive they amounted to £244,098, £108,898, and £135,200
respectively.[729]
[727] See Appendix, p. 248, Table V.
[728] Ireland had paid for mail coach tolls from the first and this
partly explains the relatively high expenditure.
[729] See Appendix, p. 248, Table V.
The increases in rates in 1801, 1805, and 1812 had not produced the
desired and expected results. The increase in 1801 had been estimated to
produce £150,000 but results showed that this estimate was too large by
£35,000. In 1805, the additional penny had resulted in an increase of
only £136,000, inclusive of any natural increase of revenue, although it
had been estimated to produce £230,000. The third increase in rates in
1812 proved even less productive. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said
that he expected it to produce £200,000. As a matter of fact the revenue
increased only £77,892 in amount. The fact of the matter was that rates
were already so high that an increase only led to greater efforts to
evade the payment of postage. As a system of taxation the Post Office
had become rigid. It could yield no more with postage as high as it had
been forced by the acts of 1801 and 1805. But, considered primarily as a
taxing medium, and it had been considered as such for 200 years, it
could hardly be called a failure. We flatter ourselves that our idea of
the Post Office is broader in its scope and more utilitarian in its
object but we have the good fortune to live several generations after
1840. What England demanded was revenue and still more revenue, and a
postal system which could produce £70 net for every £100 collected had
some excuse for its existence.
Rowland Hill has pointed out that from 1815 to 1835 the population had
increased from 19,552,000 to 25,605,000 while the net revenue from the
Post Office had remained practically stationary. He said nothing,
however, about the industrial depression of the country during that
period nor of the political and economic crisis through which England
was passing. He referred to the great increase in the postal revenue of
the United States during the same period; on the one hand, a nation with
immense natural resources and a population doubling itself every
generation, and on the other hand, a people inhabiting two small
islands, making heroic efforts to recover from a most burdensome war.
With the introduction of penny postage the gross revenue of the Post
Office fell from £2,390,763 in 1840 to £1,359,466 in 1841, and did not
fully recover from the decreased postage rates for twelve years. The
cost of management, on the other hand, increased only from £756,999 in
1840 to £858,677 in 1841. But the financial loss is shown most plainly
in the falling off in net revenue from £1,633,764 to £500,789. If we
exclude packet expenses, and such was the practice until 1858, the net
revenue did not again reach the maximum figure of high postage days
until 1862. Including packet expenses we find that the net revenue did
not fully recover until the early seventies. The average yearly gross
revenue for the period from 1841-45 was £1,658,214, expenditure
£1,001,405, and the net revenue £656,809. These all increased steadily
and on the whole proportionately until 1860, the average yearly figures
for the preceding five years being £3,135,587, £1,785,911, and
£1,349,676. In 1858 the packet expenses are included under cost of
management and their enormous increase from the beginning of the century
sadly depleted the net revenue. It seems more advisable, however, not to
include them until 1860 when the packets passed from the control of the
Admiralty to that of the Post Office. The average gross revenue for the
years 1861 to 1865 was £4,016,750, expenditure (including packets)
£3,013,389, and net revenue £1,003,341. During the next quarter of a
century these increased to £6,326,141, £4,019,423, and £2,306,718
respectively, exclusive of telegraph receipts and expenditures. For the
five years ending 31st March, 1906, the average gross revenue was
£15,926,905, expenditure £11,156,292, and net revenue £4,770,613.[730]
[730] See Appendix, pp. 249, 250, 251, Table VI; p. 252, Table VII.