UNIVERSAL PENNY POSTAGE (FURTHER PAPERS RELATIVE TO). [In continuation of F.-7, presented on the 6th August, 1912.]

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1913 Session I, F-07

F.—7

1913. NEW ZEALAND

UNIVERSAL PENNY POSTAGE (FURTHER PAPERS RELATIVE TO). [In continuation of F.-7, presented on the 6th August, 1912.]

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

INDEX. Nos. Page. Imperial penny-postage system : Extract from report of Postmaster-General of United Kingdom .. 4 2 Papua joins Imperial penny-postage system (Id. per J z.i .. .. .. .. .. 1 1 United States of America: Penny postage on letters to New Zealand .. .. .. ..2,3 1,2 No. 1. The Deputy Postmaster - General, Melbourne, to the Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington. (Telegram.) Melbourne, 25th October, 1912. Papua adopts penny half-ounce as rate for letters to any place in British Empire from Ist proximo. [P.O. 12/316(8).] [Acknowledged, Ist November, 1912.]

No. 2. The Hon. the Postmaster-General, Wellington, to the Hon. the Postmaster-General, Washington. Sib, — Postmaster-General's Office, Wellington, 7th April, 1913. I have the honour to refer to the letter of the 22nd October, 1909 [No. 7, F.-7, 1910], to your predecessor from the Postmaster-General of this Dominion, urging the desirability of reducing the minimum postage for a letter from the United States of America to New Zealand from 5 to 2 cents, and to the reply from the Second Assistant Postmaster-General of the 6th January, 1910 [No. 8, F.-7, 1910]. In consideration of the representations which have been made to mc from time to time of the hindrance to correspondence, both in the United States and in New Zealand, which inheres in the present unequal incidence of postage-rates, I now venture to again raise the matter with the view of asking for it your further consideration. Your administration lias now for some seven years accepted from New Zealand letters prepaid at the initial rate of Id.; but at its last pronouncement it bad not seen its way clear to reduce the postage for letters from the United States to New Zealand to an equivalent rate. It may lie that the reasons hitherto standing in the way of the desired reduction may have disappeared; and if they have I shall be very glad to have from you the liberty to announce to the public of this Dominion your agreement to levy the lower rate. I have, &c, B. H. Bhodes, The Hon. the Postmaster-General, Washington, D.C. Postmaster-General. [P.O. 13/49(1).]

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No. 3. The Second Assistant Postmaster-General, Washington, to the Hon. the PostmasterGeneral, Wellington. Post Office Department, Second Assistant Postmaster-General, Division of Foreign Sir,— Mails, Washington, 26th April, 1913. By direction of the Postmaster-General, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter [of 7th April] * * * renewing your proposal that the letter rate from the United States to New Zealand be reduced to two cents an ounce. In reply, I am directed to inform you that this Department is not yet prepared to extend to New Zealand or any other country the two-cent rate for letters. I have, &c, Joseph Stewart, Second Assistant Postmaster-General. The Hon. the Postmaster-General, Wellington, New Zealand.

No. 4. [Extract from the Report of the Postmaster-General of the United Kingdom for the Year 1911-12.] Penny Postage. The Imperial penny-postage system now embraces the whole of the British Empire, with the exception of Pitcairn Island. Following the reduction to Id. per half-ounce of the postage-rate on letters from Australia for the rest of the Empire, there was an increase of about 33 per cent, in the amount of correspondence sent by letter-post to the United Kingdom. The rates of increase for the first three years after the establishment of penny postage were 32 per cent., 15-4 per cent., and 63 per cent, respectively in the case of correspondence sent to the United States, and 29 per cent., 12-5 per cent., and 36 per cent, in the reverse direction. The average rate of increase for the ten years preceding the introduction of penny postage was about 5 per cent.

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