203
3.
at all British Post Offices in China, that rate, clearly, ought to be 4 cents the half ounce on all letters, whether "Imperial" or "local". There is, however, this objection to any reduction in the 10 cent rate on letters from British Post Offices in China, that it would be a violation of the principle agreed upon between the Postmaster General and the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, when the Penny Postage scheme was instituted, of strictly excluding from the scope of the scheme all British Post Offices established in foreign countries. The situation of such Offices has always been a difficult one; and it was thought unwise to augment their difficulties by giving cause to either the Post Office of the country concerned or the other foreign Post Offices established in it to complain of unfair postal competition. It was for these reasons that Penny Postage was withheld from the British Post Offices in Chinese territory, just as it was withheld from the British Post Offices in Turkish territory.
Of course, however, one of these reasons disappears, now that the French Post Office has itself set the example of