CO885-5 — Page 251

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

FEDERAC.O. 885

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

BF

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

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It is clear that to maintain a high rate of speed over a long course must be more costly than to maintain the same rate of speed over a short course, because, apart from wear and tear of ship and machinery, a larger quantity of coal is consumed and more accommodation for carrying it is required, to the exclusion of cargo.

It is stated in one of your letters that the German steamers to Australia carry letters nt 24d. per letter. This low rate, however, applies only to letters put on board the steamers at Bremen before they start for their eastern voyage. For letters sent via Brindisi the German charge is 60 pfennigs, which is more than equivalent to the 6d. charged in this country for the same service.

You ask, moreover, why it should sometimes be cheaper to send a letter to a British colony from either France or Germany than from England. The answer is simple- namely, that in cases where the letter is conveyed by a service paid for and maintained by England, neither France nor Germany is put to any expense in respect of that service, but cach country has a right, under the Postal Union Convention, to send its letters by a service maintained and paid for by another country, while only con- tributing a trifling portion of the postage, far from adequate to pay for the service rendered. This, however, is a reciprocal right of which advantage is taken by this department so far as foreign packet services are available for the conveyance of British mails to parts beyond sea.

It is easy to see that if France and Germany incur no expense they can send a letter at a cheaper rate than the country which has to pay for the service.

In the important case of India and the other British possessions in the East it is necessary to bear in mind that the sea service is only a part of the expense incurred. There is, besides, a foreign transit rate for the accelerated train service through France and Italy amounting to about 1d. per letter—a charge which is not incurred either by France or Italy for their own letters.

To create a system under which the cost of a letter in the United Kingdom would be ld.; the cost between Dover and Calais, a distance of 21 miles, 237.; the cost between England and Australia, 10,000 or 12,000 miles, 1d.; the cost between England and Canada, 24d.; and the cost from Australia to England, from 4d. to 9d., would be to establish a number of anomalies more provoking than those you are anxious to remove. The conclusion, therefore, to which Mr. Raikes comes is that the suggestion which you make would, if adopted, under existing circumstances, produce considerable confusion and probably widespread discontent.

According to his views, the direction in which this country ought to move at the present time is one which would have for its object the attainment of uniformity and freer communication, not only between England and her colonies, but also between colony and colony, and the other civilised nations of the world. This principle has animated the periodical conferences which have discussed, and from time to time continue to discuss, with an ample knowledge and abundant experience, the numerous postal questions which affect the inhabitants of all countries alike.

In the Postal Union Convention there appears to have been found a basis future improvements may be grafted, and the first step seems to be to endeavour to which upon persuade those colonies which have not yet entered into the Postal Union to join that federation, in the hope that a reasonable reduction of postage may in consequence be safely achieved without sacrificing the important advantages which admission to the union confers.

This is one of the questions which will no doubt be taken up at the Colonial Con- ference which has been convoked to assemble in London next month, for the considera- tion, among other things, of the " development of the postal and telegraphic communica- tions between this country and the Colonies.'

J. Henniker Heaton, Esq., M.P.

SIR,

I am, &c.,

S. A. BLACKWOOD.

To the Right Hon. H. CECIL RAIKES, M.P., POSTMASTER-GENERAL.

I HAVE to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 17th instant in reply to my communications of the 25th September and 3rd November 1886, and 23rd January and 1st March 1887, advocating a system of Imperial penny postage.

controversy.

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2. I gladly recognise that you approach the subject in a spirit of inquiry and not of In that spirit you set forth certain objections to my proposals, or rather you undertake to correct me in regard to matters of fact and argument, with the view of showing that my conclusions are unsound. Well, it is always an advantage to know the most that can be said against one's conclusions, and I feel I am justified in assuming that whatever weakness there may be in my case, whatever errors or misconceptions or defective reasoning may be chargeable to me, you have thoroughly exposed. Conversely, if your criticisins do not answer my case, then my case is un-

answerable.

3. The effect of your letter is to throw some doubt upon the desire which exists for an Imperial penny post, its practicability, and the extent to which it would be self-supporting. I am glad to think that on every other point we are agreed, and I now desire to submit some considerations which will, I hope, clear up the doubts that appear to exist in your mind. I find ample justification for so doing in your declara- · tion that "the subject well worth the attentive examination, not only of England,

but also of her Colonies."

4. First as to the desire for a cheaper postage. I am personally as capable of judging of that as any man living. My whole life has been spent among people whose daily sorrow it has been that an exorbitant postal rate has practically cut them off from their friends. I regret you should explain the desire for a cheaper postage (if any exists) by stating that, as a rule, anything that is cheap is popular." If you mean that a penny post would induce a desire to write letters in persons who now feel no such desire, you are thoroughly mistaken. It is not the desire that would be increased, but the means of gratifying it; and when I say that "an Imperial penny postage is wanted," I mean that it is wanted by persons to whom the present rates prohibit the gratification of one of the most strongest and laudable of human impulses. Grant an Imperial penny post, and of course more letters will be written. Why? Not because more people will want to write, but because more people will be able to write, and to write oftener.

5. Next as to practicability. You say that, owing to Great Britain and several of her Colonies being members of the Postal Union, they are prevented from establishing a penny postage system among themselves. Yet this is the Union which you have constantly urged the Australian Colonies to join!--this Union which ties your hands, which stands in the way of reform, and which imposes upon you all manner of fettering restrictions. Surely it would be wiser to advise Australia to keep free from it, and to recover our own freedom at the same time by giving fair notice to the other Powers. In my opinion, the Postal Union, so far as the Colonies and India are con- cerned, has proved a delusion and a snare. I find that India, Mauritius, Buenos Ayres, and 20 other places in the Postal Union, are charged 100 per cent. more for postage from England than from France or Germany. The correspondence between the able Agent-General of the Cape of Good Hope and the British Government on this point will, I hope, be placed before the members of the Imperial Conference, and I am sure the representatives of the Australian Colonies will pause before they make a bargain which would involve the Colonies in increased expense, and only benefit foreign countries. You sum up

this part of the question by stating that, owing to our treaty obligations, " England cannot of her own free will reduce below 24d. the postage to any of her possessions which have joined the Postal Union." This is true, but though you cannot take off, you can lay on, and you take care in some instances to charge double, as, for instance, 5d. to India. And if you charge 5d. to India (which is in the Postal Union, and is only halfway to Australia), what guarantee have we that you will permit Australian letters to be sent for less should they join the Postal Union? Do penny rate will be recognised as a substantial or "reasonable reduction

you imagine that a five- letters?

on Australian

6. I am amazed at your statement that my letters are "silent on the subject of re- duction of postage from the Colonies," which you "apprehend is hardly less important to the public than reduction to the Colonies." If you will refer to my letters again, and to the numerous newspaper extracts sent you, you will perceive that, so far from being silent, I have never had this question out of my mind. and the Times in its able leading articles has declared, that "it is the duty of England I have all along declared, to take the lead." I have mentioned the special anomaly of the fourpenny rate from Queensland to England, as against 6d. from England to Queensland. In my letter of January 23rd last, the following passage occurs :—

"The Colonies will not fail to reciprocate. The effect of my previous letters to you has been to win the support of the chief newspapers-those of the largest circulation

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