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 POSTAL Ai^D TELEGPAPHIC 
 
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 T hree months ago a deputation did me the, honour to ask me to 
 place myself at the head of *a movement for establishing half- 
 penny postage throughout the United Kingdom. I had to decline, 
 at all events for the present, on the gtound that the cost would 
 exactly amount to three millions per annum, and that the Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer was not born who would consent’ to give up this 
 sum, and increase the income-tax by about three halfpence in the 
 pound. Before the Select Committee on the Post Office Estimates, 
 however, it was elicited that postal profits were increasing at the rate of 
 two hundred thousand a year. While holding that the Post Office 
 had no right to make a profit out of the work which it had been 
 appointed to do for the public, I joined with Mr. Shaw Lefevre in a 
 resolution that the profit of the Department should stop at three 
 millions, and that any surplus realised over and above this sum should, 
 in the words of my resolution, “ be devoted to facilitating, cheapening, 
 and extending the postal and telegraphic communications of England 
 and the Empire,” in other words, to postal and telegraphic reforms. 
 
 It is the purpose of this article to enumerate briefly these reforms, 
 and to point out the defects of the postal and telegraphic systems, the 
 grievances of which the public complain, and the remedies which 
 should be applied. 
 
 Although the Postal and Telegraphic services are of such vital 
 importance to the community, it is more difficult to secure a reform 
 in them than in any other branch of the State administration. They 
 constitute the essential machinery of social and commercial life ; they 
 economise our time and labour, enable us to speak or act at any 
 number of points without the necessity of being present, provide us 
 with trained and trustworthy messengers, carry our parcels, bring 
 
 oS-Tl l'3 
 
 1 
 
328 
 
 THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, 
 
 goods ordered home to oar doors, furnish us with cheap and safe 
 •J3a^ing facilities, and, finally, mitigate the inconveniences and 
 gu^^5'jngs*f»?JJepap^ and absence, by supplying a swift, sure, and 
 ; SQcreii mban’^ . ppmmunication between those whom Fate has divided. 
 
 i&;obtioUsl^ ,*ey€U'y body’s business to see that such agencies are 
 niade’ a^’ perfect?**^.* possible, and, doubtless, it is for this very reason 
 to trouble himself very much on the* subject. 
 
 Thet6*is* a'^retty general impression that it is lost labour to preach 
 reform to the Post Office. That institution somewhat resembles those 
 patient, useful, pachydermatous animals which will carry heavy loads 
 at their own pace, and in their own way, but which cannot be allured 
 by smooth words, or stimulated by reproaches into mending their pace, 
 or altering their route. We manage such an animal by bit and bridle, 
 or, in the last resort, take it by the head ; and so must we deal with 
 the Post Office. 
 
 This stubborn aversion to reform is due to more than one cause. 
 In the first place, the Post Office is a monopoly, and consequently the 
 fear of competition and of loss of profits cannot be appealed to. Again, 
 the Post Office has been found to be in practice the most easily worked 
 of the instruments for raising indirect taxation. It has accordingly 
 degenerated from its high function of a public agency into a section 
 of our revenue-getting machinery ; it is strictly subordinated to the 
 Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer naturally frowns upon 
 any suggestion of reform which, though it would further the public 
 interest, might in any degree diminish the postal surplus. There is 
 besides a curious and amusing conservatism of feeling among the 
 higher permanent officials at St. Martin’s-le- Grand, which displays 
 itself in passive resistance to the reforming tendencies of a later 
 generation. How formidable vis inertice is maybe seen from 
 the account of Kowland Hill’s long struggle with it on behalf of his 
 scheme of Inland Penny Postage, concerning which an official Bottom 
 of those days (Lord Lichfield) declared that “ of all the wild and 
 visionary schemes he had ever heard or read of, it was the most 
 extraordinary.” 
 
 Provided, however, that popular opinion be unmistakably expressed. 
 Parliament may be relied upon to see that any reform desired by the 
 public shall be carried out, willy-nilly, by the Post Office, or any .other 
 department. And the reforms upon which, so far as can be judged, 
 the public has set its heart, may be drawn up as follows : — . 
 
 CiRCULAKS. — In order to place British merchants on a level with 
 their foreign rivals, in competing for orders in the United Kingdom, 
 our Colonies,. and India, it should be possible for an Englishman, to 
 send through our Post Office an invoice, circular, prospectus, price list, or 
 other similar document, not of the nature of a letter, and not weighing 
 more than half an ounce, in an open envelope, at the it?, rate. , ) , ,d 
 
o oik GeujtlrLVL^Y* 
 
 POSTAL AND TELEGRAPHIC REFORMS. 
 
 329 
 
 At present, such documents are permitted to be sent in large 
 quantities by foreigners from France, Germany, Belgium, Itely, -aiid; 
 other countries, in open envelopes, at the \d. rate, to beodplive'reid-; by' 
 British postal officials in the United Kingdom, in India,' and in our 
 Colonies. Yet this valuable privilege is denied ..to. ;tbe, "Btitish* 'fnerr 
 chant. Owing to this unjust and absurd rule, .great tiumbers>..Q,f 
 communications addressed by British firms to persons veqident'‘iTi. otjil’s 
 country are sent abroad to be posted. Thus, an English' association 
 recently forwarded 100,000 circulars, in open envelopes, to the Con- 
 tinent, to be posted back to England. The British Post OflBce in 
 such a case does all the work of sorting and delivery, while the foreign 
 Post Office takes all the profit (for under the Postal Union arrange- 
 ment each country retains postage collected by it). So that, in the 
 unworthy attempt to compel the British subject to pay a penny for 
 the transmission of his circular, our Post Office misses even the half- 
 penny which he is willing to pay. We have here an apt illustration 
 of the proverb, “ Much would have more, and so lost all.” 
 
 It is unnecessary to say one word as to the unpatriotic folly of 
 carrying trade papers for foreign ifierchants at half the rates charged 
 to our own countrymen. But we can easily imagine the storm of 
 indignation which would rage in Paris or Berlin, if it were discovered 
 that such a discrimination had been made in favour of foreigners, and 
 to the prejudice of native-born Frenchmen or Germans. 
 
 The regulation that if the addressee’s name be written on a circular 
 so as to form part ” of it, the circular is charged for as if it were a 
 letter, should be repealed. This regulation is constantly and inno- 
 cently infringed by the public, and I have received innumerable com- 
 plaints on the subject. It causes wide-spread irritation, and the 
 penalties exacted are not worth the resulting odium. Moreover, it 
 is absurd to contend that the mere insertion of a name converts a 
 circular into a letter. 
 
 It is curious to note that a man is allowed to write in a book sent 
 through the post — From Mr. Brown, with the compliments of the 
 author.” . 
 
 The cost of sending circulars from England to Persia, vid Eussia, 
 is ^d., but by the Brindisi mail the charge is \\d. 
 
 Post-Cakds. — The regulation should be rescinded whereby the 
 public is not permitted to send an ordinary card, bearing an adhesive 
 halfpenny stamp, through the post, although such card may 'be of the 
 'exact size of a post-card, and although the Department transmits large 
 quantities of circular cards — i.e., cards in identical terms — of varying 
 'size^, and each bearing an adhesive halfpenny stamp. 
 
 < It should be observed that, by reason of this regulation, the Post 
 Office annually incurs an unnecessary expenditure of £20,000 on the 
 material for the official post-cards. In answer to a question, the Post- 
 
330 
 
 THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW. 
 
 master-General informed me that the cost of printing halfpenny adhe- 
 sive stamps amounted to only £16 per million, whereas the post-cards 
 million Some official wiseacre has doubtless advised 
 ^r. dlaikes that this regulation is necessary. The blunder of that 
 'M.,.^^isea:ire "co«t^^M,'£^ a year. 
 
 ; ^broad,' the" phblie may supply its own post-cards, of regulation size, 
 " stamps upon them, and we carry foreign 
 
 post-cards "wffiidh arrive from the Continent, bearing adhesive stamps, 
 and deliver them here. When in Austria, I myself affixed a stamp to 
 a plain card which I sent to my right hon. friend, the Postmaster- 
 General, and it was duly delivered. On this same card I wrote begging 
 him to grant a similar facility to the people of England, and I had a letter 
 in reply, in which he contents himself with stating that he “ cannot hold 
 out any expectation that it would be possible to adopt the suggestion.” 
 He does not give a single reason why he cannot comply with the 
 request — and why ? because it is impossible for his advisers to supply 
 him with one. 
 
 A post-card should be sold at its face (or stamped) value. 
 In the United Kingdom, post-cards are not sold at their face 
 value, ^d. each, and a poor man is compelled, either to pay three- 
 farthings for a half-penny post-card, or to buy more cards than he 
 requires, whereas in nearly all other civilised countries post-cards are 
 sold at their face value. There is absolutely no justification for 
 charging more than the face value, for the extra profit does not go 
 to swell the postal revenue, but becomes the personal profit of the 
 postmaster. 
 
 The closed post- card (the carte lettre ” or biglietto postale” 
 of France and Italy), that is, a thin, double or folded post-card, to 
 be closed by means of gummed edges, should be supplied to the 
 public by the British Post Office. 
 
 It is a Post Office rule that no printed, written, or blank paper, or 
 other material, may be affixed to a post-card, not even the “ adhesive 
 address slips ” which are so commonly used, and are so convenient 
 to the public. This rule should be abolished. For post-cards from 
 foreign countries with printed and other slips affixed are admitted 
 and delivered in this country without objection or excess charge. 
 Why should a correspondent be punished by the British Post Office 
 for being an Englishman ? 
 
 Privately printed post-cards should be stamped by the Post Office 
 at a reasonable rate. In order to prevent tradesmen from selling- 
 halfpenny post-cards at a lower rate than the Post Office charges, 
 the Postmaster-General has increased the rate for stamping these 
 private post-cards (of regulation size) from Is. Qd. to 2s. Qd. per 
 quire, and has given no reasons for imposing a fee of 200 per cent, 
 above the price at which any printer would execute the work. 
 
 Stationers and others were in 1889 able to sell their own post- 
 
POSTAL AND TELEGRAPHIC REFORMS. 
 
 331 
 
 ■cards, stamped, however, by the Inland Revenue Department, for 
 per dozen. In four years the number of these privately printed 
 cards rose from three millions to fifty millions per annum. The price 
 of stationers’ post-cards is now still lower. 
 
 Moreover (as part of the payment for stamped cards and envelopes), 
 the public is charged Id. for the material of ten post-cards, although 
 the charge for the material of twenty stamped envelopes is only Id. 
 
 The public should be supplied with query ” post-cards, or post- 
 cards ruled on each side into two halves, one side being reserved for 
 the question, with a blank space for the answer, and the other side for 
 the addresses of the person inquiring and the person answering. Thor gh 
 the letter rate to India, Ceylon, and Australia has been reduced to 2\d.^ 
 
 , post-cards are charged 2d. each to those countries. Post-cards from 
 England to Ceylon cost 2d. each, but from Ceylon to England Id. 
 each. Surely these anomalies should be remedied. 
 
 Value Payable, or Cash on Delivery Post. — The system in use 
 in India and other countries of a ‘‘Value Payable” or “ Cash on 
 Delivery ” post should be adopted in Great Britain and Ireland, so 
 that a person may order, say, a book of his bookseller, to be paid for 
 on its delivery by the parcel-post conductor. This system would yield 
 a large revenue, and be of great convenience to the public. Why 
 should India be suffered to set us an example of postal progress ? 
 
 Reduction in Charges for Parcel Post. — The^ inland rates of 
 postage for parcels should be : For a parcel not exceeding 31bs. in 
 weight, 3<f., and for every additional pound of weight. Id., instead of 
 '(as at present) dd. for a parcel not exceeding lib. in weight, and l\d. 
 for every additional pound. 
 
 The parcel-post tariff to Australia, which is now Is. Qd. for 21bs., 
 -and ^d. per pound afterwards, should be Is. for 21bs., as a minimum 
 charge, rising by Qd. per pound. We can send about 501bs. of valu- 
 able merchandise to Australia for Is. 
 
 An “Agricultural Parcels-Post ” should be established at special 
 low rates for the benefit of farmers, market gardeners, dairymen, and 
 others, so as to utilise the superior speed of the post for the convey- 
 ance of perishable goods, and thus to encourage an important home 
 industry, which is at present subject to the fiercest foreign competi- 
 tion. 
 
 Book-Post Regulations. — A book sent to Australia weighing 
 under 4 ozs. is charged 4d ; but a newspaper of the same weight, sent 
 in the same mail-bag, is charged Id. A charge of Is. 4t?. is made for 
 the transmission through the post from England to Australasia of a 
 book weighing one pound, whereas a book of the same weight may be 
 sent from this country to New Caledonia, 1000 miles beyond Aus- 
 tralia, for 4<d. Is it too much to hope that these anomalies may be 
 wiped out ? 
 
 Newspaper Postage Reforms.— No legal objection exists to the 
 
332 
 
 THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, 
 
 practice of sending English newspapers to France, to be posted there 
 for India. The Postmaster-General’s monopoly extends only to postal 
 letters, consequently tens of thousands of newspapers, &c,, are posted 
 abroad by English merchants and agents for India and the East at a 
 third less cost than if posted in England. Our Post Office of course 
 loses the postage. How long must we wait before the British rate is 
 lowered to the Continental standard ? 
 
 The present newspaper regulations prohibit any monthly publication 
 from going through the post at newspaper rates, and it is charged 
 double. Many valuable scientific magazines are crippled through 
 these high postal charges, and the people are thereby often deprived of 
 valuable information. 
 
 There are also loud complaints of the arbitrary conduct of the post- 
 office officials, who have ordained that any newspaper which does not 
 furnish general news, as distinguished from matters of general infor- 
 mation and amusement, to the extent of one-third of its total con- 
 tents, shall not be registered as a newspaper. A private Member has 
 introduced a Bill into Parliament to remedy this. 
 
 If the cover of a newspaper be inscribed “ see x,” referring to a 
 cross marked within, or “ p. 4,” the newspaper in question is charged 
 for at the letter rate, although such inscription simply serves as an 
 indication for saving the time of the addressee. At the same time, 
 the sender is allowed to mark with crosses and lines any number of 
 passages inside the newspaper. Surely the inscription see x ” or 
 p. 4 ” might be permitted to appear on the cover. 
 
 At least 100,000 newspapers addressed to the colonies and foreign 
 countries are confiscated annually by the Bi^itish Post Office on account 
 of deficient postage ; whereas they should be forwarded to their 
 addresses, the small deficiency being charged against the postal 
 revenue. This valuable mass of periodical literature is sold as 
 waste paper, and none is utilised for charitable ends, as in other 
 countries. 
 
 It is the custom of the proprietors of the Illustrated London News, 
 the Graphic, the Pictorial World, and other papers of a like nature, to 
 issue at different periods of the year those beautiful coloured supple- 
 ments with which we are all so familiar. Thousands of pounds are 
 sometimes paid to eminent painters for the originals of the pictures, 
 and enormous sums are spent in reproducing them They occupy the* 
 engravers, lithographers, and printers, frequently, three, six, and 
 twelve months in preparing for publication. Now, the Post Office 
 authorities insist not only on the word Supplement’^ being printed 
 on each of those pictures, but on the date of issue being printed 
 thereon. It is exceedingly inconvenient to have to print the date in 
 advance, because, perhaps, on the very day named on the Supplement, 
 some national calamity, such as the death of some member of our Boyal 
 Family, may occur. In such case it would be manifestly improper. 
 
POSTAL AND TELEGRAPHIC REFORMS. 33^ 
 
 and against good taste, to issue copies of a painting of a comic sub- 
 ject, in tens of thousands, throughout the land. 
 
 Some time ago, I brought this question under the notice of the 
 Postmaster-General, who certainly gave reason to hope that he would 
 relax this regulation, insisting on the date being thus printed. It has 
 not yet been done. 
 
 A tax, in addition to the postage, is levied in respect of all English 
 newspapers delivered in Austria. This tax should form the subject of 
 remonstrance by our Government. 
 
 Postal Orders. — The Postal authorities should issue a Postal 
 Order for one guinea. Such an order is constantly required by the 
 public for the payment of subscriptions, fees, and accounts. 
 
 A person remitting 19s. 6d. by postal order is charged more than 
 another person remitting 20s. ; and a person remitting 9s. 6d. is. 
 charged more than another remitting 10s. This should be rectified. 
 
 Hour of Collection should be Stamped wtth Hate. — In the 
 United States, Canada, Australia, and certain European countries,, 
 the postal authorities stamp upon each envelope, post-card, or other 
 document posted, the hour of collection, as well as the date, in plain 
 and intelligible figures, and letters ; thus enabling the public to 
 check, trace, aud control the movements of correspondence, without 
 causing any extra trouble to the ofllcials. Although a memorial, 
 signed by 222 members of Parliament, requesting the institution of 
 this reform, was presented to the Postmaster-General, he refuses to 
 make this slight change for the public convenience. 
 
 The following are examples of American, Australian, Canadian, and 
 British post-marks : — 
 
 American. Australian. Canadian. British. 
 
 Improved Letter-Pillar Box Collection. — The system pursued 
 in Austria, Germany, and Italy, in collecting letters from pillar- 
 boxes, should be adopted in the United Kingdom. In the three 
 foreign countries named, the collector never touches the letters. He 
 drives round, takes out the full box from the pillar, and replaces it 
 with an empty one, the perforation in each box fitting that in the 
 pillar. As the key of each box is kept at the Post Ofiice, this system 
 is a perfect safeguard against the letters being stolen, soiled, or wetted. 
 
 An International Postage Stamp. — The Government should 
 propose at the next meeting of the Postal Union the employment 
 
334 
 
 THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, 
 
 of a common or International postage stamp, whicli can be used in 
 any country, or in specified countries included in the Union, for 
 the transmission of mail matter, or for the remitting of small sums of 
 money not exceeding one shilling. In support of this scheme, it may 
 be pointed out that at present, if one wishes to enclose a stamp for a 
 reply to the United States, Germany or France, it is almost useless 
 to do so, the English stamp being valueless for postage in those 
 countries. Another and perhaps larger use of an International stamp, 
 which would be equally good in the leading countries of the Postal 
 Union, may be referred to — for buying small articles, books, pamphlets, 
 and novelties in merchandise of all kinds. Such a plan would be 
 much more convenient than any method at present in use. A foreign 
 money order for sixpence is simply an absurdity, a cheque or draft 
 equally so. In these days of international literature and inter- 
 national advertising, there are thousands of people to whom the 
 remittance of very small sums would be a great convenience. The 
 simplest form of such a remittance would be an International stamp. 
 
 Expeess Letter Post. — The Post Office authorities should no 
 longer refuse to introduce the system of express letter post, or special 
 delivery post, which works so satisfactorily on the Continent and in 
 America. A letter posted in Vienna or New York, having an 
 extra stamp by way of special fee, is, on its receipt in the postal 
 district to which it is addressed, at once despatched to the person to 
 whom it is addressed, and generally delivered within a quarter of an 
 hour or twenty minutes of its arrival at the post office, whether it be 
 ■Sunday or week day, up to midnight. 
 
 Carte T^l^grammes. — Two years have elapsed since the Postmaster- 
 General promised to consider the expediency of introducing the system 
 of Carte Telegrammes, which answers so admirably in Paris, but no 
 steps have been taken to bring it into operation, though it would be of 
 much public convenience. The Carte Telegramme,” postal autho- 
 rities admit, ‘‘ goes sooner than a letter, is surer and cheaper than the 
 telegraph, and of more general utility than the telegram. With the 
 threepenny carte telegramme there is no fear of bungling of addresses ; 
 there need be no am biguity through excessive condensation, as there 
 is no limit to words, and with it you may transact all sorts of business 
 — give orders to your butcher or baker, fix or put off appointments, 
 or make any hurried inquiry you choose.” 
 
 Additional Charges for Re-addressed Letters. — Letters sent 
 from one part of England to another are charged additional postage 
 if re-addressed, but letters sent by foreigners to this country are re- 
 addressed free of charge. This is most unjust. 
 
 By the Postal Union agreement we are bound to deliver all letters 
 sent to us from abroad, and every farthing of postage is retained by 
 the country whence they come. On the other hand, the whole revenue 
 from the inland letters is retained by our Post Office, and the 
 
POSTAL AND TELEGRAPHIC REFORMS. 
 
 ;335 
 
 least the British postal authorities should do is to give the same facili- 
 ties to our own countrymen as are extended to foreigners. 
 
 Foreign v. English Postal Charges. — Making allowance for the 
 difference in exchange, a merchant in Austria can post 120 letters to 
 England for £1 ; whereas a merchant in England can /©niy post. 96 
 letters to Austria for the same money. , ; V j . ' 
 
 This state of things should be amended. . ’ ’ • ' - 
 
 Interference with Post Office. — The Board, of Inland' Bevenue 
 and other departments interfere with everything itL CQnn©ctiQnc,ytth 
 the Post Office, from, the making of a contract, like th.Vt'wtth' Messrs. 
 De la Kue and Co., which lost the country half a' million sterling, 
 to the placing of a filter or the mending of a lock. Yet though 
 unable to execute trifling repairs without permission from the Treasury, 
 the postal officials take it upon themselves to expend about £90,000 
 a year without the previous sanction of Parliament. Again, £300,000 
 a year is paid out of the Post Office Be venue fund, and no account is 
 ever submitted to Parliament. 
 
 Badly Kept Post Office Accounts. — Again, though it is admitted 
 that the profits of the Post Office amount to £3,346,087, yet, owing 
 to the peculiar manner in which the accounts are kept, -it is impossible 
 for any one to find out what the gross receipts and net profits are 
 within three-quarters of a million of money. 
 
 Thus the cost of constructing postal buildings and the purchase 
 sites is habitually defrayed out of profits instead of being charged 
 a capital account. In London alone it is estimated that thr 
 millions of money have been spent in sites and buildings out 
 current revenue. The Post Office should be managed, and its accounts 
 should be kept, on business principles. 
 
 Worrying Postal Kegulations. — Many of the postal regulations 
 are so worded as to cause much inconvenience and hardship to the 
 public, without corresponding advantage ; whereas the primary object 
 of such regulations should be the convenience of the public, so far as 
 may be consistent with the unimpeded working of the Department. 
 Thus a man enclosed in one packet eight newspapers, and one small 
 weekly paper, price one penn}?-, and being under the impression that 
 the small paper was registered as a newspaper, he affixed stamps of 
 the value of fourpence halfpenny to his parcel. On delivery, the 
 addressee was charged sixpence, as the small weekly paper, it was 
 said, not being registered, should have been in a separate packet. 
 
 Delay in Answering Complaints. — It is found that an answer to 
 any complaint respecting postal matters cannot be obtained from the 
 permanent officials of the Department for a period varying from seven- 
 teen days to three months, whereas in several other English-speaking 
 countries, and in British Colonies and Dependencies, the duties of the 
 officials are so arranged that an answer is received either during the day 
 on which a question is put or, at the outside, within forty-eight hours. 
 
336 
 
 THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW. 
 
 No Accounts kept of Foreign or Colonial Correspondence. — I t 
 is somewhat remarkable that, in the words of the Postmaster-General^ 
 the British Post Office has ceased for some years past to keep 
 detailed records of the correspondence passing between this country 
 andVa,Tions parta of the Empire,” so that there is the utmost difficulty 
 iD ascertaining: ^^'0 facts as to the amount of, or the receipts, expen* 
 .penditure,, profit, or loss, upon any branch of that correspondence. This 
 is , the more j^,m^rk‘^blQ because each of the British Colonial Post 
 0ffiqea keeps fujl records of the correspondence sent to the mother 
 country, arid, paklishes them. Such lofty indifference to the existence 
 and importance of “ Greater Britain” on the part of highly placed 
 officials verges on the sublime. 
 
 Waste Paper Accounts. — While the Telegraph Department is 
 credited to the extent of £2000 a year for the sale of waste paper, 
 nothing at all Is credited to the General Post Office for its waste paper, 
 which is treated as a perquisite of the Stationery Office. 
 
 Dishonest Letter Carriers. — It is not pleasant to find that in 
 1888, 325 dishonest letter carriers were found guilty and dismissed for 
 irregularities, and that on an average more than three postal officials per 
 week were convicted and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment, 
 independent of the number wffio were cautioned for suspicious conduct 
 or carelessness. There is reason to believe that sufficient pay is not 
 given, and that sufficient care is not exercised in appointing these 
 officers. Injustice is thereby done to the intelligent, courteous, and 
 honest officials, and the whole staff is consequently brought into disgrace. 
 
 There is a general feeling that the Post Office works its employes 
 too hard, and pays them too little. Mr. Frederic Harrison has 
 recently drawn up a formidable indictment of St. Martin’s-le- Grand 
 on this head, which renders it unnecessary for me to deal with the 
 subject. I will merely observe that Parliament will not tolerate for 
 the future any approach to “sweating’’ on the part of a public 
 Department. 
 
 Letters Addressed to Lodgings. — A petty and vexatious regula- 
 tion has recently been promulgated, to the effect that letters addressed 
 to any person at a lodging which he has quitted shall be delivered at 
 such lodging, although the person concerned may have given the usual 
 notice requesting the delivery of his letters at a new address. This 
 rule, which does not obtain in any other postal service in Europe, has 
 caused, and is likely to cause, much needless inconvenience, delay, and 
 loss. It will add a new terror to “ life in lodgings.” 
 
 Double Postage - Fine for Insufficient Stamping. — If a letter 
 bearing a 2\d. stamp, and weighing one-eighth of a grain over half an 
 ounce, be despatched from this country to Australia, the recipient iS 
 charged double the rate of postage on delivery of it. Again, on the 
 delivery in the United Kingdom of a letter from Canada on which in- 
 sufficient postage has been paid, or in Canada of such a letter sent 
 
 4 
 
 % 
 
POSTAL AND TELEGRAPHIC REFORMS. 
 
 337 
 
 from the United Kingdom, a fine of double the deficient postage is 
 levied ; whereas a letter sent insufficiently stamped from the United 
 ■States to Canada, or from Canada to the United States is delivered 
 on payment of the deficient postage only ; all three countries being in 
 the Postal Union. It seems unjust to fine a person who receives the 
 missive, perhaps a bill or a begging letter, more than the actual defi- 
 ciency in the postage paid. 
 
 Embossed Stamps. — Here is an amusing anomaly. Although an em- 
 bossed stamp removed from an unused (A. 1) telegram form is accepted 
 in payment for a telegram (see Postal Guide for October 1890, page 
 417), there is a conflicting rule that ‘‘payment of postage on letters 
 cannot be made by means of embossed or impressed stamps cut out 
 from envelopes, cards, wrappers, or telegraph message forms (even 
 although the stamps have not been before used)”. (See Postal Guide, 
 page 26.) As nobody will go through the tedious formality of apply- 
 ing at Somerset House for the value of an embossed penny envelope 
 stamp, this rule amounts to the confiscation of the value of embossed 
 postage stamps which, owing to mistakes in addressing, cannot be used. 
 
 Savings Bank Accounts. — One would like to know why a registered 
 Benefit Society is not permitted to open a current account at a Post 
 Office Savings Bank. 
 
 New Postal Guide. — The present postal guide and regulations 
 are framed (like a usurer’s mortgage document) entirely in the 
 interests of the Department, and not in the interests of the public. I 
 would offer a prize for the best, clearest, fairest, and simplest postal 
 guide. 
 
 Telegraphs. 
 
 Eailway Telegrams. — On the purchase by the State of the inland 
 telegraph system, in 1870, the Government made an improvident 
 contract to transmit free all messages sent by the railway companies 
 regarding their business. The companies habitually transact all 
 ■their correspondence by telegraph ; and whereas in 1871, 97,000 of 
 their messages were forwarded without charge by the Post Office, the 
 number so forwarded has now risen to over 1,000,000, and the loss 
 of the Department to over £50,000 per annum. Surely the privilege 
 of sending telegrams without payment should be withdrawn from the 
 railway companies, on payment of moderate compensation to them. 
 
 Names and Addresses should be Included. — The time has arrived 
 for the free transmission of the names and addresses (not exceeding 
 oight words) of the sender and receiver of a telegram, since the tele- 
 graphs are now worked at a profit, and it is inexpedient to make the 
 telegraphic service, like the postal service, a mere branch of the 
 revenue, or of the machinery of taxation. 
 
 Compound Words in Telegraph Messages. — All compound 
 words or names, including those of persons, houses, streets, places. 
 
338 
 
 THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW. 
 
 counties, or countries, should be transmitted as single words, so that 
 such anomalies as those set out below may be put an end to : — 
 
 The name “ South Hawley ” is counted and charged for as two 
 words, but “ South Stainley ” as one, South Stockton ” is read as 
 two words, ‘‘ South Somercote ” and “ North Berwick” are read as one, 
 “North Woolwich ” two words, “North Camp” one, “ South Camp ” two 
 words, “ North Town ” (Aldershot) one, “ North Town (Wycombe) 
 two, “ He Yere ” one word, “ He Yere Gardens ” three words, “ Hamp- 
 ton Court ” one word, “ Hampton Wick ” two words, “ St. Stephens ” 
 one word, “ Saint Stephen’s” two words, “ Westgate-on-Sea ” one 
 word, “ Sheerness on Sea ” three words, “ Kingston-on-Thames ” one 
 word, “ Kingston-Cross ” (Plymouth) two words, “ Lee-on-the-Solent ” 
 one word, “ Lee Green ” two words, “ He Worms ” one word, “ Baden- 
 Powell ” two words, “Yon Honop ” one word, “ Orr-Ewing ” two 
 words, “ He-la-Kue ” one word, “ Agg- Gardner ” two words, “La 
 Thiere ” one, “ Pitt-Lewis ” two words, “ St. Leonards- on-Sea ” three 
 words, “ St. Helenas Huckland ” one word, “ St. Just Lane ” and 
 “ Eyton-on-Hunsmore ” one word each, “ Gateshead-on-Tyne three 
 words, “ Newcastle-on-Tyne ” one word, “ Clapham-j unction ” two 
 words, “ High-Green ” one word, and “ Tnrnham Green ” two words. 
 “ Can’t,” “ won’t,” and “ don’t” are counted as one word each, while 
 “ shan’t ” is counted as two words. “Upstairs” is counted as one 
 word, “ downstairs ” as two words. 
 
 Lastly, as in Australia and other colonies, the words “ reply paid ” 
 added to a telegram should be transmitted without charge. 
 
 Peess Telegeams. — Any telegraphic message addressed to the 
 editor, as distinguished from the manager, of a newspaper should be 
 considered a Press message, and charged for accordingly. 
 
 Eecently I sent for publication a telegram addressed to “ The Editor 
 of the Times” and was charged full rates, on the ground that it was not 
 a Press message. A Press message must be addressed to “ The Times.” 
 These “ catch -rules,” as they may be termed, tend to bring the 
 service into disrepute. A State Hepartment with an annual surplus 
 of £3,000,000 should be above profiting by lurking quibbles which 
 would be discreditable in a struggling attorney. 
 
 A SouECE OF Eevenue. — Some 300,000,000 telegraph forms are 
 supplied to, or received from, the public every year, and the right to 
 advertise on the backs of these telegraph forms should be sold for the 
 benefit of the Post Office revenue. Here the authorities show them- 
 selves indifferent to a legitimate source of profit. Surely it is not 
 contended that a telegraph form is too high and sacred a thing to be 
 abandoned to the advertiser. It is certainly not more entitled to 
 protection than a railway-bridge, or the inside of a railway-carriage. 
 
 Cable feom Hovee to Calais. — There should be direct telegraphic 
 communication between Hover and Calais. At present a message from 
 Hover to Calais is first transmitted to London, thence to Paris, and 
 
POSTAL AND TELEGRAPHIC REFORMS. 
 
 331> 
 
 thence to Calais,, the result being several hours’ delay. Yet Dover 
 and Calais contain a large number of residents, and there is a 
 constant stream of travellers in each direction. The mail and pas- 
 senger boat service is dependent on the tide and the weather. It is 
 clear therefore that a short line of cable is very much wanted. When 
 some illustrious potentate has been kept waiting and fuming for a few 
 hours, in consequence of this circuitous arrangement, we may perhaps 
 hope to see it remedied. 
 
 A Grievance. — A person can telegraph 100 words from Germany 
 to this country (making allowance for the average rate of exchange) for 
 14s. 8^?., whereas he must pay 16s. ^d. for telegraphing 100 words to 
 Germany, and £1 sterling will pay for the telegraphing of 136 words 
 from Germany to England, but only 120 words from England to 
 Germany can be sent for £1. 
 
 Surely oui' Post Office can achieve something more brilliant, or, 
 let us say, more just, than this for us, in negotiating with astute 
 foreign Governments-. 
 
 High Charge for a Receipt. — How much longer is a fee of 2d.. 
 to be charged at the telegraph-offices throughout this country on 
 the receipt given for a sixpenny telegram ? 
 
 In 1888 I brought this matter before the Postmaster-General, who 
 promised to make a reduction in the charge. On the 12th of March, 
 1890, I asked the Postmaster-General why the promise was not 
 fulfilled, and received the following answer : ‘‘ I beg to inform the hon. 
 Member that, in accordance with my promise, I made a proposal to 
 the Treasury on the subject of the question, but her Majesty’s Govern- 
 ment have decided not to make any change in the amount charged.” 
 
 Here we see the generous impulse of the Postmaster-General 
 sternly checked by a niggardly Treasury. To charge 33 per cent, 
 for signing and dating a receipt form, which would take a clerk five 
 seconds, surpasses the most rapacious exactions of the loan-offices. 
 
 This incident is valuable, as revealing the light in which tho 
 Post Office is regarded by My Lords. 
 
 Improvement in Delivery of Telegraph Money Orders. — 
 The system prevailing in India of sending the cash with a Tele- 
 graphic Money Order to the residence of the addressee should be 
 adopted in this country, as it saves time, ensures delivery to the 
 right person, and is a boon greatly appreciated. Money is remitted 
 by telegraph only in cases of emergency, in which the chief object 
 is to save time. 
 
 Telegrams to the Continent One Penny per Word. — The public 
 should be able to telegraph to any European country at the rate of 
 one penny per word. In the case of telegrams to Paris, or France 
 generally, the argument for the reduction is unanswerable. The rate 
 levied throughout the United Kingdom, even between the south-east 
 of England and across St. George’s Channel to the north-west of 
 
40 
 
 THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW. 
 
 Ireland, is one half-penny per word. And the rate levied throughout 
 France is rather less than one half-penny per word. It is obvious, there- 
 fore, that we might, even under the present conditions, institute an 
 Anglo-French telegraphic tariff of Id. per word, to the great benefit of 
 trade in both countries. But a European rate of Id. per word 
 would yield a huge revenue. 
 
 Tele’grams to the Continent and Foreign Countries. — There 
 is no more delightful occupation than a study of the “ possibilities ” 
 of the uses to be made of the electric telegraph, and there is 
 nothing more irritating than the knowledge that the obstruction to 
 its general use is the existence of a cable monopoly controlled by men 
 who exploit this beneficent invention — the common property of man- 
 kind — for their own selfish profit. Monopolies, as being opposed to 
 the public interest, are discouraged by the law, and obnoxious to public 
 opinion. But -the cable monopoly is the creation of very able men, 
 the ablest of whom is unquestionably Sir John Pender, Chairman of 
 the Eastern Telegraph Company and various American Cable Com- 
 panies ; and it is so fenced about with contracts, subsidies, reserve 
 funds, and capital, that it is difficult to strike a fair blow at it. The 
 Companies have wires to India, the East, Africa and Australia; they form 
 a kind of “ pool,” and maintain a ‘‘ corner ” in International telegraphy, 
 by which they exact from long- suffering humanity an annual tribute, 
 limited not by their conscience — for they have none — but by prudence. 
 They act like vampires, which, though they suck freely from the veins 
 of their victim, leave just enough blood in his body to keep him alive, 
 and ensure themselves another meal. 
 
 The British Government and some Continental Governments, a few 
 years ago, bought the submarine cables between England, Germany, 
 France, Belgium, and Holland. Their first act was to reduce the rates 
 from 2\d. to 2d. per word. The result was that 300,000 more words 
 were sent in 1890 than in 1889, and the increased revenue to the 
 Post Office on this branch of the service amounted to 47 per cent. 
 
 When, through competition, the telegraph rates between England 
 and America were reduced from Is. Sd. to Qd. per word, the business 
 done increased 140 per cent, in eight months. Then Sir John Pender 
 came to terms with his rivals, and Is. per word was fixed as the mini- 
 mum rate to America. We should reduce the rate to Qd. per word. 
 
 Telegrams to India should not exceed Sixpence per Word. — 
 In the parlour of an Australian bank in London, last week, I 
 met a number of influential directors, who asked me what were the 
 capabilities, or the carrying power, of the Indian, Australian, and 
 American cables. The reply to this question really solves the diffi- 
 culty. I was, through the courtesy of an eminent electrician, enabled 
 to answer the question, and to state what could be done. It was easy 
 to demonstrate that millions of words more could be sent, that the 
 American wires would pay at Qd. per word, that the telegraph rate to 
 
POSTAL AND TELEGRAPHIC REFORMS. 
 
 341 
 
 India should not exceed Qd. per word, and that Is. per word would be 
 ample for messages to Australia and New Zealand, or to Hong Kong 
 and Japan. We now pay 4s. a word to India, and 9s. ^d. a word to 
 Australia. It is proposed to bring the rates to Australia down to 4s. 
 a word, but this will not satisfy the public. The charges are now pro- 
 hibitory, except to Governments and rich merchants. 
 
 In consequence of the monstrous rates quoted, merchants use codes, 
 but so great has been the increase of business relations with Aus- 
 tralia, that while in 1872 the number of messages received and de- 
 spatched amounted to 1774, yielding £16,153, in 1889 no less than 
 62,909 messages were sent and received, yielding a sum of £361,000, or 
 nearly £1000 a day, the average cost of each message being £5. If 
 messages could be sent to Australia from England for Is. per word, or 
 twenty words for £1, there would be an enormous increase of family 
 or social messages. The Companies declare enormous dividends, besides 
 reserve funds, in the shape of money or reserve stores of cable. 
 
 The traffic to India, Singapore, and Hong Kong is also very great, 
 and is increasing. To exhibit the enormous cable traffic between 
 Europe and India, I may refer to the official figures supplied me, 
 showing that the grand total number of words transmitted in 1889 
 from India was 3,875,534, and the total net value £556,034. 
 
 Again, it is no secret that treble the present number of words could 
 be easily despatched to America along the wires laid down. 
 
 It is clearly time to unite the English-speaking world in one vast 
 commercial and social federation by means of the telegraph. 
 
 It has been the business of the latter portion of my life to investi- 
 gate the working of the postal and telegraphic systems, and to urge 
 in Parliament, and through the Press, the adoption of such reforms 
 as appear to be called for in the public interest. The movement thus 
 initiated some five years ago has been the means of securing, or in 
 some cases of hastening, the following reforms : 
 
 {a) A saving of £107,000 a year, or a total saving of £1,070,000 
 on the cost of conveying mails to India and the East during the 
 contract period of ten years. 
 
 (h) A saving of £40,000 a year on the He la Eue Post Office 
 Stationery Contract. 
 
 (c) A saving of at least £25,000 a year on the Sample Parcel 
 Post. Formerly tens of thousands of samples were sent from 
 London to Belgium to be posted back to England, and Belgium 
 kept every farthing of the postage. 
 
 (d) A saving of at least £30,000 a year in the carriage of 
 mails to India, China, and Australia overland from Calais to 
 Brindisi. When. the agitation was commenced five years ago, 
 the Governments of France and Italy charged a transit rate of 
 l\d. per letter. The charge has now been reduced to about Id, 
 per letter. 
 
34.2 
 
 THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, 
 
 {e) The introduction of post-cards to and from Australia and 
 South Africa. 
 
 (/) The extension of the Parcel Post to France. 
 
 {g) The introduction of the Telegraphic Money Order system 
 into England. 
 
 (A) The reduction of Ocean Postage to Australia from 6f7. 
 to 4:d. per letter, and the reduction of postage to the Cape of 
 Good Hope from 6c7. to 4t7. per letter. 
 
 (f) The purchase by the State of all cables to the Continent, 
 and the consequent reduction of telegraph charges from 2\d. to 
 2d. per word. 
 
 {j) And, finally, the establishment of a uniform letter postal 
 rate to the Colonies of 2\d. per half ounce. 
 
 It will be intei;esting to keep for reference the list of suggested 
 reforms enumerated, and as it is beyond question that every one 
 will have to be conceded, sooner or later, I am curious to know how 
 long we shall have to wait for them, or how many of the grievances 
 will remain unredressed when another year comes round. 
 
 Imperial Penny Postage. — It will be expected that I should say 
 something regarding Imperial Penny Postage. Public opinion has 
 already been strongly and unanimously expressed in favour of an 
 extension of Penny Postage to the whole of the Empire. The Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer has so far yielded to this, demand as to» 
 institute a uniform 2\d. postal rate to the Colonies ; this new rate 
 will benefit the merchants and other well-to-do persona who are com- 
 pelled to maintain a large correspondence with the colonies, but it 
 has failed to reach the masses. There is no good reason why Imperial 
 Penny Postage should not be instituted at once, for it costs much less 
 than a penny to convey a letter from this country to New Zealand, 
 the most distant of our possessions. 
 
 There are, however, reasons for abstaining from a discussion of this 
 great reform at the present moment. It will suffice to say that the 
 question of establishing Imperial Penny Postage is receiving the serious 
 attention of the Government. 
 
 One word must here be added. Some few points that I have 
 raised may appear trifling, but I can testify that they frequently cause 
 intense exasperation. ^ 
 
 While we exercise our constitutional right of grumbling, we heartily 
 recognise how much we owe to the fleet-footed messengers, the deft- ^ 
 
 fingered sorters, and the talented and devoted clerical staff of the 
 Department. Only by marching abreast of public opinion, by moving ^ 
 
 with the times, and by seizing promptly on every opportunity of 
 extending the benefit of its operations, can the Post Office adequately 
 fulfil the great mission entrusted to it, and preserve unimpaired the 
 confidence and gratitude of the British race. 
 
 J. Henniker Heaton.