A Postal Reform

New Zealand Tablet, 11 October 1906, Page 9

A Postal Reform

A Press Association telegram from Wellington makes the following announcement of an important postal reform : ' The reduction on postage rates for letters in the Colony and Cook Islands to I'd for 4oz or fraction thereof, and on charges for ihe transmission of telegrams within the Colony to M per word, with a minimum of Gd, and on urgents of Id per word, with a minimum of Is, comes into operation on November I.' The new postal rates are the most generous that exist in any civilised country. Yet, asiarback as the last two years of the reign of Charles 11., Robert Murray introduced a penny post into London that, even allowing for the different values of money in those days and now, must be regarded as remarkable for the times. Murray's penny post passed speedily under the control of William Docwra. The rates between London and ' the rural districts are set forth as follows by Sydney, a Protestant writer, in his ' Social Life in England from the Restoration to the Revolution ' (pp. 222-8) : ' All letters which did not exceed a pound in. weight, and any sum of money which did not exceed ten pounds in value, and any packet which did not exceed ten pounds in value, shofuld ibfe conveyed at a cost of one penny within' the city and suburbs, and of twopence to any distance within a circuit of ten miles '. In the busy parts of the city, there were as many as six or eight deliver es made during the course of the day, and in the outlying districts four deliveries.

England's first penny post was a pronounced success. But religious passion soon, broke up what commercial enterprise ■ 'toad established. 'The system ,-■ says Sydney (p. 229), « was- loudly denounced 'by the' Protestants as a contrivance, on the part of notorious Papists, to facilitate the communication of their plots of rebellion one to another. The infamous ' Titus Oates s assured the public "-that he was convinced of ' the complicity of the Jesuits in the scheme; and that undeniable evidence of it would certainly be found 'by* searching the bags'. 1 Postal monopolists and city porters also complained. So' Docwra-'was fined, and the penny post 'was abolished.- Through- the efforts of Sir" -Rowland Hill, it was revived- and extended under a modified '• form on January 12, 1840. On May 6, of

T~l ~ TTT t_, .- ■ : the same - year, adhesive stamps. were first issued,.^ to the public, in- the'matter of weight,--'our~ 'new."postal rates * represent-&" useful reform in thfe direction of' the • generous provisions of'" Docwra's day-s.-" •