The subject of transit rates, which had not been seriously considered since the first Congress, was also raised at the Congress of Washington (1897), two proposals in regard to it, by Germany and by Austria-Hungary respectively, being under discussion. In the original project of the Union, gratuitous transit had been proposed, with the reservation that remuneration should be paid in cases of special expenses occasioned to an intermediary by the transit of foreign mails. The new German proposal was for the abolition of all transit payments except in those cases where, according to the statistics of the international service, a payment of more than 50,000 fr. a year was due, and in those cases the actual amount due to be reduced by 25 per cent., or at least by 50,000 fr.; to make the amount payable only by those countries whose share exceeded 10,000 fr.; and the reduction of the maritime transit rate from 15 fr. to 10 fr. This proposal was avowedly a step towards completely gratuitous territorial transit. The Austrian proposal was for gratuitous transit for all correspondence sent _à découvert_, and a reduction of the transit rates for closed mails. Gratuitous transit, to which, as already stated, the German proposal admittedly tended, was advocated by the delegates of the South American countries, but was opposed by several other countries, especially by Belgium, France, and Italy. As at the first Congress, the delegates of the latter countries called attention to the great expense to which they were put in providing transport for transit mails, and rejected altogether the idea of gratuitous transit. In face of this opposition, the proposals could not be carried in their entirety. The transit rates were, however, considerably reduced, and simplifications in the method of ascertaining the amounts payable in respect of transit were introduced. The land rates were reduced from 2 fr. per kilogramme for letters and postcards and 25 centimes per kilogramme for other articles, to 1 fr. 90 and to 23-3/4 centimes for the years 1899 and 1900, to 1 fr. 80 and to 22-1/2 centimes for the years 1901 and 1902, and to 1 fr. 70 and to 21-1/4 centimes for and after 1903. The maritime transit rates were similarly reduced. Countries whose expenses for the transit of foreign mails exceeded the receipts, and those whose combined receipts and expenses for that purpose did not exceed 5,000 fr. per year, were excused all payment under this head.