=26.= On and after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine, newspapers and periodicals, printed and published in Canada, mailed by the publisher in the post office at the place where they are published and addressed to regular subscribers or newsdealers in Canada, resident elsewhere than in the place of publication, shall be transmitted by mail to their respective addresses as follows:-- If they are required to be transmitted by mail a distance within twenty miles from the place of publication or within a circular area of a diameter not exceeding forty miles, and if their publication is of no greater frequency than once a week, they shall be so transmitted free of postage within one or other of such areas to be selected by the publisher in accordance with regulations in that behalf to be established by the Postmaster General; if they are required to be transmitted a greater distance, or if their publication is of greater frequency than once a week, then in either of such cases postage thereon shall be paid on and after the said first day of January, and until and inclusive of the thirtieth day of June next following, at the rate of one-quarter of one cent, and thereafter at the rate of one-half of one cent, for each pound weight or any fraction of a pound weight, which shall be prepaid by postage stamps or otherwise, as the Postmaster General from time to time directs; provided that-- (_a_) such newspaper or periodical is known and recognized as a newspaper or periodical in the generally received sense of the word, and consists wholly or in great part of political or other news or of articles relative thereto or to other current topics, and is published regularly at intervals of not more than one month; (_b_) the full title, place and date of publication, and the distinguishing number of the issue are printed at the top of the first page, and every subsequent page, and also on any paper, print, lithograph or engraving purporting to be a supplement to it and sent with it; (_c_) it is addressed to a _bonâ fide_ subscriber, or to a known news-dealer in Canada; and-- (_d_) it is delivered into the post office under such regulations as the Postmaster General, from time to time, makes for that purpose. 2. For the purpose of determining the weights of such newspapers or periodicals, each newspaper or periodical transmitted separately through the mails shall be held to weight not less than one-half of one ounce. 3. [_The Postmaster General to decide whether any publication comes under this section, and whether the requirements have been complied with in any case._] 4. [_Books for the blind transmitted free of Canadian postage._] [158] 61 Vict. Chap. 20.