Page:Notes by the Way.djvu/263

 NOTES BY THE WAY.

��193

��Mr. Ingram, the founder of The Illustrated London News, stated in 1851 to Sir Charles Wood, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, that he paid more, in many cases, for advertisement duty than he received for the advertisements, as it frequently happened that he never received a farthing of the amount due to him. There were several modes adopted by advertisers to avoid the tax, including dogs carrying advertisements, and advertising vans. Tickets for the Panorama of the Nile at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, were dropped all over London by means of balloons, the finder having the privilege of admission at half-price. I have one of these, picked up in Leicester Square. Displayed advertisements in the daily papers were not adopted for many years, The Times being specially conservative in the matter, and four-fifths of the advertisements in that paper were, on an average, under ten lines.

On looking at ' The Newspaper Press Directory ' for 1856 it is seen at a glance what an impetus had been given by the repeal of the compulsory stamp. Among the new-comers was The Satur- day Review, started on the 3rd of November, 1855. The opening address stated that " the immediate motive of coming before the public is furnished by the impetus given to periodical literature by the repeal of the Newspaper Stamp Act." The stamp had been abolished in the previous June. By the new Act it was optional for newspapers to print upon stamped or unstamped paper ; but the privilege of retransmission by post was limited to a period of fifteen days. The weight was not to exceed four ounces for a penny. Mr. Cowan advocated a halfpenny postage for every two ounces, but Mr. Gladstone believed that this would entail a heavy loss. Previous to the abolitions of the stamp it was easy to know the exact circulation of each paper, as this was given in the Parlia- mentary returns. The Illustrated London News had a sale of 1 30,000 and The Times 59,000. The Athenceum, The Builder, and a few others were regarded as class papers, and were allowed to issue stamped and unstamped copies. This privilege was also extended to Punch, 8,000 of which were published stamped, and 32,000 unstamped. My father, seeing what an additional labour the affixing of stamps on covers would mean to newsagents, besides the temptation to boys employed in the stamping, appealed to Sir Cornewall Lewis to grant permission for newsagents to have their covers with an impressed stamp, with the name and address of the sender. This, after correspondence and interviews with the authorities of the Board of Inland Revenue and the Post Office extending over twelve months, my father secured, and the result was announced in The Athenceum of the 20th of June, 1857. He also suggested a 3d. stamp, but it was not until June, 1859, that covers with this stamp could be obtained. It will hardly be believed that, notwithstanding the various charges made for postage, there were at that time only four different kinds of stamps issued, namely,

��Herbert

Ingram and

The Illut-

trated London

Nem*.

��The repeal of the compul- sory stamp.

Saturday Review founded.

��John Francis obtains per- mission for newsagents to have stamped covers.

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