Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/605

Rh GERMANY, ITALY.] P O S T-O F F I C E 583 2. German Empire. 1 The Prussian postal system now devel oped (mainly by the ability and energy of Dr Stephan, to whom the organization of the International Postal Union is so largely indebted) into the admirably organized post and telegraph office of the empire began with the Great Elector, and with the establish ment in 1646 of a Government post from Cloves to Memel. Frederick II. largely extended it, and by his successor the laws relating to it were consolidated. In Strasburg a messenger code existed as early as 1443. A postal service was organized at Nuremberg in 1570. In 1803 the rights in the indemnity-lands (Entschadigungslander) of the counts of Taxis as hereditary imperial postmasters were abolished. The first mail steam-packet was built in 1821 ; the first transmission of mails by railway was in 1847 ; the beginning of the postal administration of the telegraphs was in 1849 ; and, by the treaty of postal union with Austria, not only was the basis of the existing system of the posts and telegraphs of Germany fully laid but the germ was virtually set of that International Postal Union which is now become so widely fruitful. That pregnant treaty was made for ten years on 6th April 1850, and was immedi ately accepted by Bavaria. It came into full operation on the 1st July following, and then included Saxony, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and Holstein. Other German states followed ; and the treaty was renewed in August 1860. Between 1850 and 1860 the number of post-offices in Prussia increased by 20J per cent., that of letters conveyed by 115 per cent. The postal staff during that term increased from 9029 to 15,471. In 1860 the aggregate number of letters was 135,377,086, that of ordinary parcels 13,765,336, that of registered parcels, with value declared (178,937,360), 10,807,293. 2 In 1872 the post-offices of the empire, exclusive of those in Bavaria and Wiirtemberg (each of which countries retains in postal and telegraphic matters its own organization), numbered 5784, in 1883 11,646. Adding the number of letter-boxes, the total of postal receptacles in those years respect ively was 33,362 and 65,175. 3 The aggregate postal staff was 49,945 persons in 1872, in 1883 74,393. 4 These figures include large numbers of persons who are connected with the transit of travellers, as well as with that of letters, parcels, and telegraphic messages. In 1872 the aggregate number of letters, cards, book- packets, and newspapers conveyed was 718,233,000, in 1883 1,468,315,000, or, with the addition of Bavaria and Wiirtemberg, 1,649,845,000. For Berlin itself a private letter and parcel post was established by the commercial guild of the grocers and druggists in September 1800, and continued to work under their rule until 1806, when it was abolished. A regular delivery by letter-carriers, attached to the state postal organization, existed in Berlin as early as 1712. 5 In 1876 the Berlin office employed a special staff of 3705 persons, which in 1883 had increased to 6120. It delivered in 1883 postal articles amounting to 199,500,000 in number. It received an annual income for postage of 796,517 in 1883. The nett revenue accruing from the whole of the imperial postal and telegraphic service in 1874 was only 349,301 sterling; 6 in 1881 it was 1,060,310 sterling, in 1882 1,066,860, and in 1883 1,172,343. The lineal extent of telegraphic lines in the whole of Germany was 74,313 kilometres (46,148 miles) at the close of 1882 as compared with 72,577 kilometres (45,070 miles) in the preceding year. There were 10,803 telegraphic offices (10,308 in preceding year). The aggregate number of messages transmitted in 1883 was 15,300,816 as against 12,721,290 in 1879. Collectively, the total number of money orders issued by the postal service throughout the German empire in 1882 was 52,537,440, showing an annual average a little exceeding one to each inhabitant ; in 1883 53,935,556 money orders, worth a total of 161,622,221, were issued. In 1883 the aggregate number of ordinary inland parcels forwarded by the German parcel post was 79,245,700, that of registered parcels with declared value Avas 5,410,800, the aggregate declared value being 201,469,460. The parcels sent abroad were ordinary 3,231,970, registered with declaration of value 262,620. 1772 ; Ueber die kleine Post in Wien, 1780 ; A. Flegler, Zvr Gesch. d. Fasten, 1858 ; Stephan, Hein. Gesch. d. preuss. Post, 1859 ; Fischer, Die Verkehrsanstalten des deutschen Reichs, 1873 ; Von Linde, Haftverbindlichkeit d. Postanstalt ; W. Kompe, Das Handelsgesetzbuch u. das Postrecht ; Gad, Die Haftpflicht d. d. Postanstalten, 1863 ; Bug. Hartmann, Entivickelungsgesch. d. Fasten, 1868 ; P. D. 1 The figures in this section have been kindly revised by the Reichs- postamt in Berlin. 2 Aemtliches preussisches Handel sarchiv, Nos. 15-17 (1863), as quoted in Hildebrand s Jahrbucher fur Nationalokonomie, i. 396-398 ; K. A. H. Schmid, &quot;Zur Geschichte der Briefporto-Reform in Deutsch- land,&quot; in Hildebrand s Jahrbticher, in. 1-51 (1866); Journal des Economistes, ser. 4, ii. 68-71. 3 Statistisches Jahrbuch fur das deutsclw Reich, 1884, 97 sq. 4 These, like the other figures, are exclusive of Bavaria and Wiirtem berg. 6 Archivfiir Post und Telegraphie, 1884, p. 97. 6 Hildebrand, JahrbucJier, xxvii. 207 sq. (1876). No. of Banks. No. of Accounts (31st Dec.). Amount of Deposits (31st Dec.). 1876 1989 57,354 97,736 1879 3259 238,869 1,049,291 1881 3406 471,094 2,679,876 1882 3488 592,018 3,398,049 1883 3584 805,988 4,485,135 Fischer, Die d. Post- und Telegraphie-Gesetzgebung, 1876; O. Dambach, Das Gesetz iiber das Postwesen des deutschen Ileichs, 1881 ; Archiv f. Post u. Telegraphic, 1873-85 ; F. X. von Neutnann-Spallart, Uebersichten iiber Verkehrin d. Weltwirth- schaft, 1835 ; Deutsche Verkehrszeitung, 1881-85 ; W. Lenz, Katechismus d. d. ReicJispost, 1882. 3. Italy. The history of the Italian post-office is in many Italy, respects one of special interest. But the limits of this article admit only of a very brief statement of results. Its origin may be traced virtually to Venice and to the establishment of the &quot; Corrieri di Venezia&quot; early in the 16th century. As early as 1818 the Sardinian post-office issued stamped letter-paper. The total number of letters, newspapers, and book -packets conveyed in 1862 was but 111,733,319. Ten years later there was an aggregate of 232,242,677, and in 1882 one of 333,242,148. The comparative growth of postal traffic in letters and post-cards may be shown thus: in 1869 the aggregate number was 87,613,348, in 1870 89,430,261, in 1880 189,207,627, in 1881 194,587,021, in 1882 204,644,355, 7 in 1883 216,944,382. The growth of postal savings banks in Italy is on the whole satisfactory, as will be seen by a glance at the following table (XXII.): In the year 1881 the accounts opened were 143,410 and 249,741 in 1883 ; those closed were 12,161 in 1881 and 35,771 in 1883. The average of each deposit increased (omitting fractions) from 1, 4s. 3d. in 1876 to 3, 16s. Id. in 1881, and decreased to 3, 4s. 8d. in 1883. The average sum standing to the credit of each depositor was 5, 12s. lid. in 1881 and in 1883 5, 11s. 3d. The number of accounts opened in 1883 was 249,741 as against 144,485 opened in 1882. This rapid increase, and the corresponding diminution in the average amount of each deposit and of the average sum stand ing to the credit of each depositor, are due to the regulation of 18th February 1883, which came into operation on 1st May follow- intf, and by which post-office savings banks were authorized to accept as deposits cards bearing sufficient ten -centime postage stamps to make up the sum of one lira (9|d.). Between 1st May and 31st December 193,763 such cards were deposited. The financial results of the post-office savings banks service for 1883 show a nett gain of 29,768 ; the total gain from 1876 to 1883 was 90,345. It is the purpose of the postal administration to make by degrees the number of the postal savings banks identical with that of the post-offices. 8 That administration is now (1885) a dependency upon the ministry of public works. There were issued in 1883 for Italy itself 4,207,544 money orders, valued at 21,706,968, and for countries abroad 17,087, valued at 164,174. The Italian parcel post despatched in the first three months of 1882 489,687 articles, in the corresponding period of 1883 869,280; it received respectively 486,814 (1882) and 978,559 (1883). 9 The number of parcels, both inland and foreign, conveyed in 1882 was 2,877,201. In 1883 3,747,182 inland and 180,828 foreign parcels were despatched by parcel post. The nett postal revenue in 1882 was 197,257 (against 152,676 in 1881), to which sum the parcel post contributed 27,078. 10 The nett postal revenue in 1883 was 213, 537. The parcel post of Italy dates only from 1881 (October), since which time it has carried more than nine millions of _ parcels, which it registers, paying for loss or damage during transit. But the service is so excellently organized that the administration has hitherto (1885) had to pay but a very insignificant sum as compen sation. POSTAL CONGRESSES AND INTERNATIONAL POSTAL UNION AT BERN. Substantially, the first step towards an effectual postal Confer- union was taken at Paris in June 1863, when delegates ence of from France, Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Portugal, Switzerland, Denmark, the Hanseatic towns, the United States of America, and Costa Rica met in congress, under the presidency of M. Vandal, the then postmaster -general of France. The conference recommended (1) an optional prepayment of foreign letters, with a reduction of the differential charge between paid and unpaid ; (2) a readjustment of the regulations concern ing the international weighing and taxing of letters; (3) a 7 Statistique generate, 1882. 8 Ann. di Statist, ii. 263. 9 L Union Postale, viii. 164. K&amp;gt; &quot;Le Service des Colis postaux en Italic,&quot; in L Union Postale, November 1884, ix. 229 sq.