HAWKE'S BAY TIMES. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 1871.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 915, 12 January 1871, Page 2

HAWKE'S BAY TIMES. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 1871.

The British postal authorities, in their desire to extend the advantages of their elaborate system of mail delivery to the utmost, have recently. effected several striking improvements, one of the most marked of which is the halfpenny postage, under the regulations of which a packet of printed matter under two ounces in weight may be forwarded from any pari of the United Kingdom to any other part for the small charge of one halfpenny. This boon, great as it is in itself, is but one of the forms of novelty and utility introduced by the new svstem. Another, and perhaps the greatest, is what is known as the "card or message post." Under these regulations cards are supplied to the public bearing the necessary stamp at |d each. Tliey are of the ordinary letter size, and are intended to be used without envelopes,—the message or information beinc written on the back of the card, and the address on its face. In spite of the obvious defect of publicity inherent in the plan, it seems to meet with popular approval, and *ve doubt nor will be extensively adopted. Of course it is not to be expected that a young community such as ours can enjoy postal facilities equal to those of the mother country, but it is not to be denied that we are far behind the requirements of the day. Locally speaking especially we are subject to obvious inconvenience from the imperfection of the postal arrangements between the Port and the Town. So great are these drawbacks that almost all the correspondence is forwarded by private messenger. No letter posted in the town lor the port after 10 a.m. is forwarded until the next day, by which time it often becomes useless ; and as the fact is not widely known many letters intended for speedy delivery fail of the effect intended by the writer. Again, there being no regular upward mail be fore 5 p m., no correspondence can be sent through the Post Office from the port to the town to be of any use on the day posted ; and even when mails for the country are made up as late as 2 p.m. letters and packets for such mails are not sent from the port unless posted on the previous day,—ail such having to be sent by special messenger to the Chief Office in Napier. Thus it will be seen that although there be a Post Office at the Port few of the advantages of such an institution are enjoyed by the public. Besides the above local drawbacks to our postal system there are others which are of a more general character, the chief of which is the absence of a delivery, and the detective nature of the notices respecting letters unclaimed. A person not having extensive correspondence may not call for letters at the Post Office for a length of time, and the only place where notices of unclaimed letters are exhibited is at the Post Office itself, where, of course, such a person would be least of all likely to see them. "We cannot perhaps at present expect a regular letter delivery to be established, but at least the public have a right to expect that due notice shall be given of unclaimed letters in a way more likely to reach their knowledge than that in use. We append from an English exchange an article bearing on the halfpenny post :—- As the new half-penny postage scheme will come into fujl operation in a few days, it may

be well to indicate briefly the arrangements under which it is to be worked. The new stamp is to be applicable to a great variety of purposes. Shopkeepers will use it for their trade announcements, commercial travellers will adopt jit for intimating their business visits, seed merchants will employ it largely for their specimen bags, booksellers for forwarding small volumes, wholesale houses of every grade for samples of their goods. In short, there is no branch of business in which this new instrument of che.'ip communication will not be more or less taken advantage of j while in social life the facilities it offers will be duly appreciated. Newspaper proprietors and newsvendors are to be at once supplied with three forms of the half-penny stamps. They may have the gummed labels, which are made up in sheets of 480 stamps at £l, or they may have stamped covers made up in packets of 100 at 4s 6d, and other .qualities in proportion, which allows paper at the rate of Id for 25; pr thoy may under certain regulations send in wrappers to be stamped at the Inland Revenue offices in London, Edinburgh, or Dublin. While newspaper proprietors and agents may have the labels and covers supplied to them now, it is with the explicit caution tint any of the stamps used before Ist October will not be recognised at the post office—anything sent under them being treated as '* unpaid." The size of the wrapper is 14 inches by 5 inches, and it. will therefore cover a tolerably bulky article. The gummed label sheets are quite similar to, but smaller in size than, the penny stamps at present in common use, and may be applied to unstamped newspapers and printed matter not exceeding 2ozs., in the same manner as the penny stamp is now applied. Notwithstanding the low price of the stamps aud the very small charge for paper, 1 per cent, discount is offered to purchasers of £U) in value of labels or wrappers at one time, and no doubt many besides postmasters will take advantage of this liberality. As for the card postage, no cards are to be sold before the day specified in the act of Parliament, viz., October 1. But already, from the specimens that have been shown in in the hands of all postmasters, forms are being prepared for printing or lithographing upon them as soon as delivered out. They are of the size of an ordinary letter, blank on one side to receive the writing, while the side on which the address is to be written bears the stamp, the royal arms, and directions for use in lilac-colore'd ink. A single card will be sold for id. They are to be sent out from the Inland Revenue Office in packets containing 24 cards, price Is., and in parcels of 20 packets, price £l. > The cards are intended to be posted without envelopes., and of course unweighted with any extraneous attachment. Besides the uses of the half-ponny postage card hinted at above, the practice maintained in Government offices of immediately acknowledging receipt of every letter will probably, wi'lk the increased facilities offered, be followed out in most private offices and counting houses. Such acknowledgments are being lithographed in imitation of handwriting, with blanks i'o>- date. For the convenience of parties requiring to post _ news; papers, it may he useful to summarise the changes that will be introduced on Ist Oct. The postage of any single newspaper, _ with or without supplement, and altogether irrespective of weight, is to be a halfpenny. The postage of a half- penny, whether in the form of a stamp or stamped wrapper, will apply only to one transmission through the post ; a pec )ud transmission will require a new stamp. Two or more newspapers sent in one wrapper will require a halfpenny to be paid for each newspaper, altogether irrespective of weight ; but a packet of newspapers may be sent as printed matter at the rate of a for every two ounces.