Where the State itself conducts an industry there is always a risk that commercial considerations and fiscal considerations will not be sufficiently distinguished. Charges may be fixed at a higher point than is warranted by the cost of the services rendered. The surplus goes to the national revenue. It is a tax, but a concealed tax, and in the case of postal rates it is one of the worst kinds of tax, a tax on communications. On the other hand, charges may be fixed at a lower point than will cover the cost of the service. The deficit is a subsidy, but a concealed subsidy. The halfpenny postage rate for bulky newspapers, for example, or the extension of telegraph offices to rural districts, may be socially useful, but they are unremunerative. The loss that they involve to the Exchequer may be justifiable, but if so it should be deliberately incurred. It should not be hidden in the profit that is made on the letter post. Without a scientific examination into the actual cost of each part of the postal and telegraphic service, and into the precise relation of revenue to cost, the charges may include, haphazard, an excess which is nothing but pure taxation, the expenditure may include an addition which is nothing but pure subsidy, and neither the administrator nor the taxpayer may be aware of the fact. It is therefore one of the essential duties of the Post Office to make such examinations, and of students or critics of postal affairs to check or to supplement them. Mr. A. D. Smith has made a useful contribution to the application, in this sphere, of the methods of science to the conduct of industry; and since the postal service is the most international of all forms of social activity, it may be expected that his contribution will be of value, and will have its influence, far beyond the limits of our own country. HERBERT SAMUEL. I THE RATE FOR LETTERS LETTER POST IN ENGLAND In England the postal service, as an organized means for the carrying of the King's despatches, dates back some four hundred years, and as a recognized arrangement for the carrying of letters for the public, some three hundred years. Before the establishment of a regular system of posts, provision had been made for carrying the King's despatches by special messengers, called _nuncii_ or _cursores_, attached to the royal household.[1] Their function was naturally one of importance, and, from early times, large sums were expended in their maintenance. They were employed on the private and confidential business of the Crown and of members of the royal household, and on affairs of State, both in England and abroad, although their function was primarily to serve the convenience of the King.