The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the History of Penny Postage, Vol. 2 (of 2)Hill, Rowland, Sir
History
The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the History of Penny Postage, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Hill, Rowland, Sir
Hill, Rowland, Sir, 1795-1879; Postal service -- Great Britain -- Rates
At present, newspapers posted for rural districts have to be assorted
from a mass of papers for all parts of the United Kingdom, and, indeed,
of the world. Such as are for a distance have to undergo a like
operation at one or more offices on their way to that where, by a final
assortment, they are arranged according to the walks of the several
messengers. Lastly, of course, each paper has to be delivered according
to its particular address.
Now, upon the proposed plan, the publishers or the news vendors of
the metropolis, or other centre, instead of folding, addressing, and
posting the journals intended for the rural districts, would, as is now
done to a great extent--naturally send them in bulk, in the parcels
containing journals for the post towns; an arrangement which would
relieve the Post Office, not only of the first assortment, but also of
the duty of conveyance; thereby avoiding at once increased difficulty
as to exchange of bags, and also interference or quasi interference,
with parcel-traffic, unless in the acceptable way of augmentation; and
the provincial news vendors, on receiving these parcels, would, while
themselves dealing with the journals intended for town-delivery, and
for such of the rural districts as they might prefer to serve, convey
the remainder, still unfolded and unaddressed, to the local post
office (which they would have previously supplied with corresponding
lists, variable, say once a month), thus superseding the intermediate
assortments; and, lastly, the postmasters would only have to arrange
the journals, by number and kind, according to the rounds of the
messengers; thus reducing the trouble of even the final assortment to a
minimum.
Still further to lessen trouble to the Post Office, as likewise for
just security, it would be well to require that payment for the month
should be made in advance, viz., on delivery of the lists. It would
also be necessary to rule that the sum to be so paid should in no case
be below a certain amount.
And thus, by an actual reduction in Post Office labour, unattended with
any counterbalancing disadvantage, the desired reduction in postage
would be warranted.
It is obvious that papers thus dealt with would present no temptation
to fraud, since the absence of particular address would altogether
prevent their being used as substitutes for letters.
On the plan set forth above, if taken as a whole, I think it would be
safe and justifiable to reduce the charge for what I have called the
primary distribution of newspapers, &c., to one halfpenny the four
ounces, that is to say to one-half the present rate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account