GERMANY In Germany the delivery of local letters in towns was for a long period conducted as a private undertaking of the postmaster or letter-carrier. Between 1842 and 1852 it was made a branch of the general postal service, and the delivery charge (_Ortsbestellgeld_), which, in general, had been retained by the letter-carrier as wages, was, in the latter year, made payable to the general revenue. An arrangement was also made for the acceptance and delivery of local letters, at the rate of 1 sgr.[557] If the letters were called for at the post office (and the service of delivery at the house therefore not performed) the rate was reduced to 1/2 sgr.; and when one person posted as many as one hundred local letters at the same time, the rate for each letter was no more than 4-1/2 pf. (reduced in 1860 to 4 pf.), including delivery at residence. When as many as fifty were posted at one time, the rate was reduced to 1/2 sgr. By a regulation of the 21st December 1860 the limit of weight for the single letter was, however, raised to 1/2 pound, and a rate of 2 sgr. imposed on heavier letters, but the rates were not otherwise materially changed. The law of 16th September 1862 abolished the delivery fee on ordinary letters. In 1865[558] the rate for local packets of printed matter was reduced to 4 pf. When, at the foundation of the North German Union in 1867, the postal rates were reorganized, the question of the local rates proved to be one of some little difficulty, since the existing rates differed very considerably in the different parts of the Union. The Prussian rates were high as compared with the rates in some other States; and any rate which could be applied generally was likely to represent a considerable reduction of the Prussian rates, but a considerable increase of the rates in other States. The reorganization of the local rates was consequently delayed. After much discussion a new local rate for places in the former Prussian postal territory (excepting Berlin and Hamburg) was established:[559] for ordinary letters 1/2 sgr., for printed matter and samples 1/3 sgr. In Hanover the local letter rate was made 1/3 sgr.; in Brunswick 1/4 sgr.; and in Cassel, Erfurt, Frankfort-on-Main, and Hamburg similar rates were established.[560]