The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1879.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 289, 14 October 1879, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1879.

It is almost an open question whether the rates of postage could not be reduced throughout New Zealand without any loss to the revenue, now that we have improved means of communication throughout the Colony, which are favorable to such an experiment. The postal rates in New Zealand are still the same that tliey were ten years a»o, while in that interval the business has trebled and quadrupled, By ordinary business rules it is evident that as a increases its charges should diminish, and it is quite time that such a reduction should be made in the postal department. A penny stamp may be too small an amount to cany a letter fiom one part of the Colony-to another, but twopence on the other band is too large a sum. Any intermediate stamp, such as three-halfpence, would be inconvenient, and consequently the alternative lies between the public paying j too much or too little. In a department like the post office of a rapidly progressing colony, we think the latter alternative should be chosen, Outside the Colony, too, postal charges are excessive, A man when he sends a letter to America or England does not begrudge the sixpenny stamp which he places on the envelope; but his correspondent in, perhaps, a country district at Home, who is accustomed to affixing

penny stamps only, does part reluctantly with tlie silver piece necessary to forward a reply, Wo believe that cheap postal communication between New Zealand and Europe would do more to advance the interests of the Colony than our costly immigration dcpai tment. If letters could be sent from and to England for a penny, there would soon bo an enormous increase in the number despatched, which would almost cover any loss of revenue, and people in England would begin to think New Zealand was not so very far off after all,