I may premise, that the subject of net revenue has to be viewed in two aspects. First, as to its absolute amount, and, secondly, as to its comparative amount when contrasted with the net revenue obtained before the establishment of Penny Postage. I propose, therefore, to consider the question from both points of view. First.--As to the absolute amount of net revenue. _Under the head of receipt_, the items regarding which there is a difference of opinion are:-- (_a._) The postage of the Government correspondence. (_b._) The proceeds of the impressed stamps on newspapers. (_a._) The postage of the Government correspondence is included in the ordinary amount of gross receipt, but it is contended by some that it ought to be excluded. The amount of Government postage is, on the average, about £150,000 per annum.[257] Of which that of the Post Office itself is about 40,000 " -------- Leaving for the other Departments abou £110,000 " The postage of the Post Office itself cannot affect the Net Revenue, seeing that it is included in the expenditure as well as in the gross receipt. It may, therefore, be left out of consideration. As regards the correspondence of the other Government departments, if it were right to deduct the postage of it from the revenue of the Post Office, it is obvious that it would also be right to deduct the cost of its conveyance and delivery from the expenditure of the Post Office. The net revenue would therefore be reduced, not by the full sum of £110,000 above mentioned, but by that amount less the cost of conveyance and delivery; in other words, by the profit the Post Office obtains on the official correspondence. It is to be borne in mind, however, that official postage is, in nearly all cases, charged by weighing the letters not individually, but in the gross; a mode of procedure which, if applied to private correspondence, would reduce the rate of charge for such correspondence by about one-half; and although, owing to the greater average weight of official letters, the reduction of charge is not so great as one-half, it may be doubted whether the remaining charge be sufficient to leave any profit to the Post Office, so that, whether the amount received and the cost incurred for the conveyance and delivery of official correspondence be, or be not, included in the calculation, the net revenue of the Post Office could be but very slightly affected. It may be added that the postage charged against the various Government departments is actually paid into the coffers of the Post Office, and is not merely a statistical record.