Page:The life and letters of Sir John Henniker Heaton bt. (IA lifelettersofsi00port).pdf/268

 of her inland rate to a penny, and a consequent annual loss of £250,000.

I ought not to conclude this letter of gratitude for a particular reform, great as it is, without expressing my sense of the value of numerous improvements effected in the postal and telegraphic system under the administration of yourself and your two predecessors, Mr Austen Chamberlain and Lord Londonderry.

In 1906, Mr Austin Chapman, Postmaster-General of Australia, introduced a Bill to establish Penny Postage throughout the Commonwealth and overseas. It met with considerable opposition and was eventually shelved.

In 1907, H. H. visited Australia, and had many interviews with leading citizens and members of Parliament, with regard to the rate of postage. He pointed out the absurd position Australia was in, and that Australia and China were the only countries not enjoying inland penny postage. An indignant Chinaman at once replied that China was enjoying penny postage, and that letters with less than a penny stamp franked letters from the uttermost parts of China and Japan.

Victory was completed in 1911, when the Hon. Josiah Thomas, P.M.G. of Australia, addressed the first letter under the penny postal rate to H. H.; and the long and weary struggle was thus ended.

Twenty-six years of strenuous labour, twenty-six years of unyielding perseverance in the face of indifference and opposition, resulted in the achievement of H. H.'s deep-felt desire that he might live to see