The changes in the British letter rates since 1840 have not been numerous or fundamental. The limit of weight for letters, viz. 16 ounces, fixed in 1840, was abolished in 1847. In 1865 the progression of weight and charge above one ounce was made a penny the half-ounce. In 1871 the rates were reduced. Letters up to 1 ounce in weight became transmissible at the penny rate; for the second ounce, and for every succeeding 2 ounces up to 12 ounces, the rate was made 1/2d.; and for letters weighing more than 12 ounces, 1d. the ounce, including the first ounce. In 1885 the rate of 1/2d. for every 2 ounces after the second ounce was continued without limit; and in 1897, on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, a further reduction of the rate for heavier letters was made. The scale of 1d. for the first 4 ounces, and 1/2d. for each succeeding 2 ounces, was then introduced. This method of effecting a reduction was dictated largely by a desire to simplify the rates of postage. It admitted of the abolition of the Sample Post, and of the Book Post (except as regards packets not exceeding 2 ounces in weight), and thus removed a source of confusion and loss of time both to the staff and the public. In recent years postal traffic of all kinds has increased rapidly. The growth in numbers is shown by the following table:-- -----------+----------------------- | Total number of Postal Year. | Packets dealt with in | the United Kingdom. -----------+----------------------- 1880-1 | 1,682,000,000 1890-1 | 2,623,988,000 1900-1 | 3,723,817,000 1905-6 | 4,686,182,000 1910-11 | 5,281,102,000 1913-14 | 5,920,821,000[91] -----------+----------------------- The ordinary letter, however, remains the characteristic of Post Office business and the sheet-anchor of postal finance. The vast proportion in point of numbers still consists of packets of small weight.[92] In 1913-14, of a total traffic of some six thousand million packets (including parcels), nearly three thousand five hundred millions passed at the letter rate of postage (less than 14 per cent. of which exceeded 1 ounce in weight), one thousand millions at the postcard rate, another thousand millions at the 1/2d. packet rate (none exceeding 2 ounces in weight). The average weight of the two hundred million newspapers was just over 4 ounces, and of the hundred and thirty million parcels, some 2 to 3 pounds. Of the total traffic (including parcels), more than four thousand millions, consisting in general of ordinary letters and postcards, were under 1 ounce in weight; and of the remaining two thousand millions (including parcels) only some five hundred millions exceeded 4 ounces in weight.