Page:Notes by the Way.djvu/294

 224 NOTES BY THE WAY.

been conferred on those having correspondents abroad or hi the

foreTJrTand Col 011 * 68 * the unit of weight being raised from half an ounce to one

Colonial ounce, while the postage on foreign letters for each unit after the

postage. first was reduced from 2%d. to l^d. For example, a letter weighing

two ounces addressed to a foreign country can now be sent for 4d.,

instead of IQd. ; and a letter of the same weight to a British colony

can be sent for 2d., instead of 4d. It is to be hoped that before

long foreign countries will see the advantage of a cheap rate of

postage, and that they will follow the example of our brothers

in America and complete the system of an ocean penny post.

The increase hi the business of the Post Office becomes more remarkable year by year. This is shown in the report now issued by Mr. Sydney Buxton. I quote a few statistics showing the pro- gress during the past ten years. The letters delivered hi the year 1907-8 amounted to 2,863,900,000, as against 2,186,800,000 in 1898-9. Newspapers were 199,800,000, as against 154,100,000; post cards 858,300,000, against 382,200,000 ; parcels 109,470,600, against 71,913,000 ; registered letters 19,123,050, against 15,240,669. It is interesting to note the large increase of parcels to Egypt and Japan. To the former during last year 55,710 were dispatched, while only 20,890 were sent in 1898-9. Japan shows a still larger increase 19,620 as against 4,771 in 1898-9. If we take Australia and New Zealand, in 1898-9 only 76,666 parcels were dispatched, while last year the number was 166,165. Canada shows a still larger increase 261,593, against 59,276 in 1898-9 ; while parcels received from Canada reached a total of 119,494, against 23,175.

The extraordinary carelessness of the public as to addressing still continues, or rather goes from bad to worse. During the past Le t t( dd Wlth y ear 31,278,000 packets were sent unaddressed, or so imperfectly ' es ' addressed that they could neither be delivered nor returned to sender, being a million and a half more than the preceding year. Even registered letters were undeliverable to the number of 393,298. These actually contained 19,378 16s. 6d. in cash and bank notes, and 636,680 17s. in bills, cheques, &c. Besides these there were packets posted without any address to the number of 442,957, included in these being notes and cash to the value of 1,456 12s. 9d., and cheques to the value of 27,016 18s. lid.

The net revenue for the Postal and Telegraph services combined ue - was 4,135,633. If the interest on the capital expended on the purchase of the telegraphs (10,867,644) be taken into account, the net profit was 3,863,942, or 287,344 less than last year. The number of persons on the establishment on the 31st of March, 1908, was 90,776, of whom 13,259 were women. In addition to these, there were 112,821 filling unestablished situations, of whom 30,476 were women. From the mortality table it is sad to see how high is the death-rate from tuberculosis. Out of 392 males who died.

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