In the new Act, which came into operation on the 5th of January 1797, the ambiguous term "stage" was dropped, and the whole of the rates were fixed according to distance, thus-- +------------------------------------------------------------------+ | ON AND AFTER THE 5TH OF JANUARY 1797. | +-------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+-------+ | | Single | Double | Treble | | | | Letter.| Letter.| Letter.| Ounce.| | +--------+--------+--------+-------+ | | _d._ | _d._ | _d._ | _d._ | |Not exceeding 15 miles | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | |Exceeding 15 and not exceeding | | | | | | 30 miles | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | |Exceeding 30 and not exceeding | | | | | | 60 miles | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | |Exceeding 60 and not exceeding | | | | | | 100 miles | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | |Exceeding 100 and not exceeding| | | | | | 150 miles | 7 | 14 | 21 | 28 | |Exceeding 150 miles | 8 | 16 | 24 | 32 | |To and from Edinburgh | 8 | 16 | 24 | 32 | +-------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+-------+ Within Scotland the rates were raised by 1d. for a single letter, by 2d. for a double letter, and so on. Another important change was made. Hitherto, in the case of letters from Portugal and America, the packet postage had carried them to their destination. For the future these letters were to be subject to the inland rates as well as the packet rates. Thus the packet rate from Lisbon had been, on a single letter, 1s. 6d. It was now to be 1s.; but if for London the letter would be charged with the inland rate of 8d.--this being the postage from Falmouth--and if for Edinburgh with 8d. more, or 2s. 4d. altogether. As the packet postage from America remained unchanged, namely, 1s. for a single letter, the inland rate was in this case a pure addition.