NEWSPAPERS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 13, Issue 668, 29 March 1869, Page 3

NEWSPAPERS.

(From the Sydney Morning Herald, Feb. 25.) Apropos of the discussions that have been carried on in our Assembly, and that are to be renewed, respecting the free postage of newspapers, it may be interesting to cast a glance at the policy adopted iu this respect by the threat Republican Government of the United States. The American correspondent of the Times, iii one of his recent letters, happens to allude to the subject, and gives the following information : The newspaper in America is regarded as a useful and necessary institution, and one "which it is as much the duty of the brovernuient and people to support as the Public school system, or any other of the many indispensable things that the community carries on forits benefit. This usefulness of the newspaper is recognised by the Government in every "way. Every law passed by the Federal Congress is required to be published in a certain number of news papers in every J>tate in the Union ; the same is the case with every treaty ratified, with every Presidential proclamation, and with other official acts of our rulers. No-

i thing can be bought or sold by Govern- > ment without advertisement duly made. In these ways millions of dollars are dis- > tributed over the country Among the newspaper profession. When Congress, at the close of the war, lessened the heavy taxation upon the people, the first tax removed was the inland duty upon advertisements, and the importance of the newspaper business was recognised by exempting it from restriction. But the Government even goes further than this, and holds it to be its duty actually to facilitate the newspaper circulation. Every advantage that can be asked in the way of postal fa cilities is extended to newspaper circulation. The "exchange papers" in every newspaper-office are an important source o*"information, and there are iew American editors who do not exchange their paper with several hundred contemporaries. By law the Post-office Department carries all these exchange pipers free of cost, either to sender or receiver. The San Francisco publisher drops his journal daily into tho post-office at thai city, and it is carried 3000 miles to Philadelphia ; the Philadelphia publisher receives it, and in turn sends his paper to San Francisco. Not a penny is paid for this service, yet it goes on between the many newspaper offices of the country, and, tons of mail matter are carried in this way at the public cost. The Post-office does even more, for give? each publisher a post office box on its pr - raises to receive hid hundreds of exchanges daily, to be his exclusive property so long as thus used, and this, too, without any pay. SLOOO a year from each would scarcely pay for the service thus done for every newspaper in the country, and done voluntarily and gladly by the Government, The Post-office does much mora than this, for it considers it to be the wisest policy to benefit the subscribers as well as the publishers of newspapers. The newspaper mails are carried with the same speed and care as the letter, but at a much lower rate. Letter postage from any part of the United Stales to any other, provided the distance be not more than 3000 miles, is at the ruto of 3 cents for a half-ounce. Newspaper postage for the same distance is but 2 cents a single rate, and this single rate is anything less than four ounces, so that the sender may put half a dozen newspapers in one package, provided it does not weigh over four ounces, and still only pay 'i cents postagj for it. Besides this, the Post-office grants a commutation ;o regular newspaper subscribers. Tne subscriber to a daily newspaper would have to pay at the regular rate 2 cents postage a day. but by merely exhibiting a receipt from the publisher showing him to bo a subscriber he u entitled to ihe commutation, and pays 30 cents in advance L>r three months at tho Post-office where he receives his paper. For $1 20 cents a year, therefore he can get through the post his 310 daily ■ newspapers that otherwise would have cost over six dollars postage. These advantages are extended to all publications —daily, weekly, or monthly. The publishers of weekly papers have an additional advantage, as they can send by mail, free of charge for postage, one copy of their paper each week to any subscriber within the county where the paper is published. These are actually encouragements to the public to subscribe, and they are granted by the Government to assist a business which is thought to be of incalculable benefit to the country. Books, authors' MSS., proof-sheets, &c., are also carried by mail at much less than the regular rates, and for the same reason. The railway, steamboat, express, and telegraph companies, also, from the same cause, grant facilities for the gathering of news and the circulation of newspapers not enjoyed by the general public. While all the transportation' lir.es give every facility for the carriage of newspaper bundles from the cities to rural newsmen and agents, they rarely think of charging anything for the service; and the telegraph companies, recognising the newspapers as among their best customes, transmit their news messages at from one-third to one-half the ordinary rates. This, too, is done in order to facilitate the operations of an importaut business.

The free " exchanges," the free box, at the Post Office, and the multiplied advertisements are benefits to the newspaper proprietor, and only indirectly to the reader. But the permission to post for a penny any number of newspapers not weighing over four ounces, and the great reduction made to regular receivers of a daily paper, are direct benefits to the public The postage of a single casual newspaper is, as with us, a penny; but the regular daily employer of the Post Office is treated on the footing of a standing wholesale customer, and receives a very large discount. Instead of having to pay a penny a day as for a separate daily transaction, a prepayment of fifteen pence a quarter franks his daily broad sheet-for him' to his local post-office. The postage, therefore, though not absolutely iree, is so slight as to be no burden, and to make no very appreciable difference to the cost of the newspaper. Instead of paying 312 pennies, or twenty-six shillings per annum, for the daily transmission, he pays only five shillings, or rather less than one-fifth of the charge for a casual service. This only appears to cover the transmission through the post. The American sys-

tern does not provide for the delivery at tiie residence of the subscriber. The paper is at the local post-office to be called for. A farthing a day would probably discourage no one from ordering a paper, and it is doubtful whether the establishment of an absolutely free postage would increase the circulation. At the same time, the Government maintains the principle of the charge, and enforces it for casual service.

This distinction between the charge for the regular daily issue and for aa occasional transmission has not been suggested in any of the discussions in our Legislature, and it is worth considering whether it" does not form a basis for a compromise between' the contending parties. Ir meets the principal demand, while at the same time it saves some revenue for the Government, and with an opening for its expansion as business increases.

The whole question has to be discussed as one of national policy. It is only displaying either ignorance or passion to call the charge a tax. Those who imply a grievance by the use of that term put themselves out of Court at once, as having no case. The cost of carrying the newspaper to the subscriber is only a fraction of the total cost involved in supplying him. Hi ere is the cost of the paper, the cost of preparing the news, the cost of printing and publishing. No one calls these taxes, or suggests that paper should be supplied free, or that compositors' wages shouid be paid by the State. If the Post Office were a private speculation, the -carriage of newspapers would be entirely on a footing of private enterprise, just as the delivery in town by runners is. Bit when the State takes the business in hand, the question naturally arises whether it might not, as a matter of public policy, circulate newspapers for nothing or next to nothing,

Precisely similar questions are arising in England at this time, In this colony the telegraphs have from the first been a Government undertaking, but in England the Government have just bought them up. The Post Office, too, has less there to do with the transmission of newspapers, owing to the great facilities afforded by railways. The. newly-purchased telegraphs are to be placed under the Post-Office department.

The Times, alluding to this fact, and at the same time commenting on the letter of its American correspondent, makes the following remarks:—

I In proportion as wo have extended the franchise, we must extend the means of using the franchise intelligently; and it may become a question whether we ought not, even if it did not' pay,' to bring the means of political information more within the reach of all classes of the people. The time is near ufc hand when the Post Oiiiee will be very closely uniied with, tho newspaper Press. Within a few months, in consequence of the acquisition of the telegraphs by the Government, we shall have to depend upon the otlice at St. Martin'a-le-Grrand for all our telegraphic new 3. Unless this business be performed in a very different spirit from that which has yet been shown in the work of transmi sion, the public will suffer greatly by the change. The telegraph is now as much a part of the newspaper as the printing press itself, and it will be the business of the Post Oifice authorities to bring themselves in harmony with the Press, and to consider, in the first place, not their own convenience but the demands of the public. We believe, indeed, that with judicious management the supply of those demands can always be made to pay, and it should be the business ol the otlice to discover in each case the method for accomplishing these two ends simultaneously. In the management of the telegraphs they will be absolutely compelled to undertake this task; but they might usefully consider the other to which we have here called attention. The Post Office will soon be one of the chief agencies for the transmission of news. (Jould not it be rendered also one of the chief agencies for the transmission of news* papers ? "

The circulation of the newspaper is to be considered as a great educational agency. It is true that there is this difference between it aud the other public educational agencies—viz., that

Government has no control over it. If

a primary school, or a grammar srhool, or a college, or a university bo endowed by the Government, it can reserve control over the selection of teacher and the course of studies; or if a library be supported, it can exercise supervision over the choice of books. But if a newspaper be encouraged, it can exercise no control over its management.