Page:EB1911 - Volume 22.djvu/196

Rh speedily gave a more vigorous impulse to the progress of the net revenue than had theretofore obtained. During the seven years 1845–1851 inclusive the average was but £810,951. During the six years 1852–1857 inclusive the average was £1,166,448—the average of the gross income during the same septennial period having been £2,681,835. Number of Letters: Gross and Net Income, 1838–1857.

Within a period of eighteen years under the penny rate the number of letters became more than sixfold what it was under the rates of 1838. When the change was first made the increase of letters was in the ratio of 122-25% during the year. The second year showed an increase on the first of about 16 %. During the next fifteen years the average increase was at the rate of about 6% per annum. Although this enormous increase of business, coupled with the increasing preponderance of railway mail conveyance (invaluable, but costly), carried up the post office expenditure from £757,000 to £1,720,800, yet the net revenue of 1857 was within £350,000 of the net revenue of 1839. During the year 1857 the number of newspapers delivered in the United Kingdom was about 71 millions, and that of book-packets (the cheap carriage of which is one of the most serviceable and praiseworthy of modern postal improvements) about 6 millions.

Since 1858 the achievements of the period 1835-1857 have been eminently surpassed. This period includes the establishment of postal savings banks (1861) and the transfer to the state of Growth the telegraplric service (1870). These improvements and are dealt with in separate articles. The British Ch-"'X¢S» postal business has grown at a more rapid rate than the population of the United Kingdom. Some of the causes of this development must be sought within the post office department, e.g. improved facilities, lower charges and the assumption of new functions; but others are to be found in the higher level of popular education, the increase of wealth, industry and commerce, and the rapid expansion of Greater Britain. -

The following table shows the growth of letters delivered:- United Kingdom.-Estimated inland delivery of letters, 1839-1905, with the increase per cent. per annum. Also the average number to each person, 00,000's omitted.

The rates of inland letter postage have been altered as follows. From the 5th of October 1871 to the 1st of July 1885 the charges were not exceeding 1 oz. one penny; over 1 oz. and not exceeding 2 oz. three halfpence; and an additional halfpenny for, every 2 oz., so that the postage on a letter weighing between 10 and 12 oz. was 4d. On a letter weighing over 12 oz. and not exceeding 13 oz. the postage was 1s. 4d., and increased 1d. for each succeeding ounce. On the first of July 1885; the postage on letters over 12 oz. was reduced and the gradation of charge beyond 2 oz. was made uniform, at the rate of one halfpenny for each additional ounce. Thus a letter weighing over 12 and not not exceeding 14 oz. was charged 4d., 14 to 16 oz. 5d., and so on. Notwithstanding this change, it was found as late as 1895 that 95% of the letters sent through the post weighed not more than 1 oz. each.

Among a number of postal and telegraphic concessions made to the public on the 22nd of June 1897, the sixtieth anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne, were new rates for letters as follows:-
 * d.


 * Not exceeding 4 oz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1


 * Over 4 oz. and not exceeding 6 oz. . . . . 1
 * Over 6 oz. and not exceeding 8 oz. . . . . 2


 * with d. for each succeeding 2 oz.

This change, while it saved both the post office and the public the trouble of testing the weight of a large number of letters, had also the advantage of simplicity of calculation-one halfpenny is charged for each 2 oz., with a minimum charge of rd. Arrangements were at the same time made to ensure a delivery of letters by postmen at every house in the United Kingdom. It was estimated that 16 millions of letters, whose owners had previously to fetch them from the post office or from some oint on a postman's walk, would thus be added to the official) delivery. The estimate proved to be much under the mark, some 60 millions being added to the letters brought annually into the official delivery under this arrangement. Financial considerations have now been entirely disregarded for the benefit of these letters, and the cost of their delivery alone greatly exceeds the whole revenue derived from them.

In studying the statistics of letters delivered, it should be remembered that the figures for any particular year are affected by circumstances like a general election or a boom in trade, as well as by changes in the rates or condition of the post office services. The letters from foreign countries have been stimulated by lower charges, and those from the colonies by the imperial penny post, to which reference is made below.