On this page
-
Text (1)
-
66 Universal IPentiy Postage.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Universal Penny Postage
more , if necessary . Mr Hill proposes , therefore , that all letters passing direct to post-towns , or in the primary distributions , 11 s , s ,
should pay a penny ; and that letters requiring the secondary distribution should pay something more , either by a small tax on the district which stood
away from the direct road , or by a somewhat higher postage , _s & y twopence or threepence . If 50 , 000 letters can be sent to Edinburgh for a penny each ,
no one will contend that they should be charged a shilling each , because a letter could not be sent to a small village in Hertfordshire for a penny . But Lord Liehfield
exclaims—** Oh , the natives of villages woiild protest against any taxation ! " Pray , my Lord ; is not their postage already taxed ? and do you think they would object id the taxation being
_reduced , as it would be ? or that they Would feel any satisfaction , that the postage of the whole country should be highly taxed , merely to keep them company and do them no good ? Then his Lordship had fears for the revenue . What a
fearful fear ! So palpably detrimental is the system of taxation at the Post-office to the object of revenue , that whilst
the population has nearly doubled , and the means of and desire * for correspondence _certkihly increased , and every _otWr department of the reve-
Universal Penny Postage
nueprogressed , this one of the Post-office has remained nearly stationary for the last ten years . So that proportionably the
revenue has really fallen off . If the population and commerce of the year 1828 gave 1 , 544 , 224 _£ . in postage , those of the year 1837 should have
yielded very considerably beyond 1 , 645 , 835 / . But in such case , the revenue should be of little moment in the eyes of a statesman who had really at heart the interests of commerce
and the comfort and happiness of his countrymen at large . We believe there will shortljr arise a very general public demand for this _change ; the advantages of the measure are so palpable to every comprehension . The title at bnce
explains the whole _question . The True Suri informs us that _^ The Town _Council o _£ Hull have come to an unanimous
resolution to petition Parliament in support of Mr _Rowland Hill ' s plan of Universal Penny-Postage , and a similar resolution has been _ada pted by the Chamber of Commerce at Hull .
This is the more satisfactory , from the circumstance that tne t \ vo bodies are of opposite politics / ' We are glad t 6 see
the subject advocated by the whole press , of all shades of political opinion . The _Miriigtry could not _intrbdiceV as tile first act of their neiv _stewardship , a morte popular reform .
66 Universal Ipentiy Postage.
66 Universal IPentiy Postage .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 1, 1837, page 66, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_01071837/page/64/
-