Page:The life and letters of Sir John Henniker Heaton bt. (IA lifelettersofsi00port).pdf/329

 These marks give us satisfaction, for they render it more difficult to prove delay in transmission. But say that the American machines are being slowly introduced, and will in the course of a generation—no, of a few years—be universal.

A publisher asks that the rules requiring a periodical, in order to pass as a "registered newspaper," to be published at intervals not exceeding seven days, and to contain a certain proportion of news and articles of a given character should be abolished, so that such magazines as the "Nineteenth Century" should no longer be excluded from the advantages of the newspaper postage. He says that a paper weighing 2¼ pounds goes through the post for a halfpenny, and a magazine the same weight is charged 84d.

My hands are tied by Act of Parliament. But personally I regard this excess charge on reviews and magazines as a tax on luxuries, and therefore justifiable.

A person asks that the fine for insufficient postage shall not exceed the deficiency; that a halfpenny fine, in addition to the deficient postage, shall be the maximum for an inland and a penny for a foreign letter.

No doubt the sender should be fined, not the receiver; but we cannot get at the former. Our view is, that the more severely we punish the unlucky addressee, the more likely he is to revenge himself on the sender, and cure that individual of the habit of neglecting to pay postage.

A clergyman asks that the charge for the registration of a letter should not exceed a penny. He says that he saves a penny by posting unstamped all letters requiring care, but he puts two penny