TOPICS OF THE DAY.
CHEAP POSTAGE, AT HOME AND ABROAD.
THE " financial statement," so long due from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, will not be very satisfitctory when it comes. It is known that since the commencement of military government in Canada the expenditure has gone beyond the receipts. Neither, in the present condition of the money-market, can any speedy augmentation of the revenue be anticipated. Having this unplea- sant information to lay before the country, Mr. SPRING RICE, wise in his generation, reserves, as a set-off, the formal announce- ment of a measure which will afford universal satisfaction, and communicate a most welcome impulse to commerce. He is to move resolutions declaring the expediency of a Uniform Penny Postage, and pledging the House of Commons to make good any deficiency in the revenue arising from the proposed change. This is a safe promise, and one which may be easily kept ; tbr there is sufficient experience of the principle on which Mr. limes plan is based, to justify confidence, that any temporary and partial defici- ency will be more than compensated by subsequent excess, the re- sult of enormously-increased correspondence and the suppression of smuggling,--sources of increase particularly noticed by the Duke of Ricsimorto, in his recent favourable judgment of the plan.
But Mr. RICE, of course, will not content himself with mere " resolutions." We take it for granted that a bill is prepared for immediate introduction, and to be carried through both Houses before the prorogation. Parliament must not separate until this great national benefit has been secured. The common excuse, that it is " too late in the session " to proceed with so important a measure, will not be accepted. Its importance is the main reason why it should be passed with despatch. There is no subject on which it would be more hazardous to disappoint expectation than on this. Should Ministers fail to put the new system in train for colmnence- ment—should a shuffling postponement till next session be at- tempted—it will be freshly remembered against them in their final reckoning, and even " have judgment," in most unpleasant con- sequences, before the Government business of the present session can be wound up. Don't let the friends of the Uniform Penny Postage scheme be deceived by the notion that the powers of the Crown arc sufficient to effect the necessary alterations, without an net of Parliament. The Crown's prerogative does not extend to the setting aside of the existing Postage Acts. In a variety of ways the Executive would find its operations crippled m hen relying upon its own authority ; whereas an act of Parliament would ride over all opposition. Full powers to reduce postage to any extent, and even to direct its pre- payment, already exist; but authority to assess postage by weight, and to issue stamps, is indispensable. A bill of live clauses would accomplish every thing wanted. To make assurance doubly sure on this point, an opinion, affirming the necessity of a bill, has been obtained by the London Postage Committee from Mr. Sergeant WILDE ; so that any assumption by Mr. Ricu to the contrary, can only be regarded as a wilffil design to postpone the business sine die. Besides, merely to offer "abstract resolutions," to be made law in some future year—in " 1842 " perhaps—would invite the not in- consistent hostility of those who object on principle to this mode of conducting public business—of binding themselves to do that at an unnamed subsequent period, which might possibly be imprac- ticable or very difficult then, though feasible and much approved now.
But the statement of Lord MEt.uouuN u in the I louse of Lords on Tuesday, ought to relieve us front all doubts of the sincerity of the Govermnent to carry out the measure with the least possible delay. The Premier distinctly pledged the Government to apply to Parliament for the necessary powers. Granting to the Govern- ment till Christmas to organize their preparations, the public may have their reasonrble expectations realized, a getting penny post- age by the first day of next January.
There is another urgent reason ap,,ahlst delay, to which cm. attention has been attracted by a pamphlet recently printed and privately circulated in Paris, on the sulticet of the cheap and uni- form postage. This pamphlet* is the produetion of M. PIRON, the Sub-Director of the French Post-offiee,—a counterpart of our Colonel MADER IN, but considerably more colightcned in his views of matters connected with his th.part mem than the gallant and clerk- led Colonel. Now, from the nature of the support the new plan re- ceives in France,---being recommended by a member of the Go- vernment best able to carry it into operation,—it is nearly certain that a short time only will clapse heibre the French people will be prepared to correspond with us through the medium of a uniform cheap postage. Letters too have been received from America, an- nouncing that Mr. Amos KENDALL, the Postmaster-General, has already despatched an agent of inquiry into all the details of Mr. limes plan, with a view to its application in the United States. Prussia and Belgium are awakened to the advantage of a similar system ; and the vigour with which administrative im- provements, affecting the social welfare of their subjects, are exe- cuted by the rulers of those countries, leaves no room to doubt that contemplation will be quickly followed by action. There is really some danger that England, to whom is clue the honour of having suggested and matured the scheme, (for M. PIRON has little claim to originality, though his countrymen seem to think other- * Du Service des Poster, et de la Taxation des Lettres, au moyeu (Fun Timbre—" On the Post-office and. Taxation of Letters by means of a Stamp." wise—his work being in fact a French version of Mr. ROWLAND IIILL'S pamphlet on Postage Reform, which few Frenchmen have seen,) will be among the last to reap practical benefit from it. The people of the Continent will be ready before we are to 'correspond in penuy letters, unless in this session full powers be taken by the Government to effect the reform, and those powers be faithfully and energetically exerted in the recess. M. P1R0N'S adhesion to Mr. ROWLAND HILL'S principle is a most valuable testimony to its soundness and practicability. The Sub- Director of the French Post-office possesses long experience, and acute powers of observation and calculation. The opening sen- tence of his brochure is a sample of the excellent views which per- vade the whole- " If we consider the Post--office, not only as producing 06,000,000 francs annual revenue on the taxation of letters, but under the far more interesting aspect of the facilities which it gives to comm.:tee—of the relations c;f fiimily and friendship which it stiscuins—in short, e':* the deviopment of morality and public education which it favours—we inus tl.ta the augmenta- tion of its receipts is less imp-rtant than thnt •.f the 1trs it transports, and that it is the duty of a long-sighted and wisy-1i1.2ral government to look to increase and extend the amount of correspondence by all means within its power."
Here indeed is no official horror of the " walls of the Post-office bursting with the number of letters!" once on a time expressed in the House of Lords. 31. PinoN proceeds to show how the well- being of a country and the prosperity of commerce augment the number of letters and the Post-effiee receipts ; and on the other side, that a frequent and rapid post. in nmItiplying the occasions Nor writing, is an element of prosperity for commerce and a cause of the wellbeing of the country. All experience, he says, proves that the profits of the post increase in proportion to the facilities it gives to the public. Ile gives a very striking illestration of this state- ment, in the correspondence between Paris and Marseilles. Befbre 1828, letters from Paris to Marseilles reached Marseilles at two _o'clock pan.—the very hour at which the post left Marseilles for Paris : the consequence of this ingangement was, that an answer could not be returned until the next day, and would therefore be delayed twenty-four hours. The speed of the post was accelerated from 118 hours to 68 hours, and the time of departure of the mail changed to six o'clock a. on. Now, mark the financial results : in 1827, the receipts of the Post-office on this line were 110,500 francs—in 1832, they rose to 172,248 francs ; and in 1887, they reached 229,196 francs.—being actually doubled in ten years with- out any reduction of charge, but from the simple causes of increased speed and facilities. We may thirly reason from this fact, one only of many produced by M. Potos, but strongly corroborated by nu- merous analogous cases in our own country—that of omnibuses and railroads for example—that though a uniform penny rate is a main feature in Mr. Hies's plan, greatly increased facilities of despatch and deliveries are scarcely less important to its success. Whether the functionaries of our Post-office either appreciate their value or understand how to carry them out, past experience makes us very doubtful indeed. M. P1R0N deems it just and moral that postage should be fixed at the lowest price possible. The present French postage he proves to be too costly, by the analogous case brought forward by Mr. Hiss, of coach-travelline. Front 1816 to 18:36, the tax on public carriages in France rose from 1,669,367 francs to 4,305,:369 francs— that is, it was nearly tripled; whilst the postage, which in 1810 was 19,825,000 francs, had risen in to 35,600,000 francs—being not double. M. Pi not: is not satisfied with an increase of postage revenue of nearly cent. per cent. in twenty years; whilst our post- age managers sit quiet. with a revenue, it' not declining, at least nearly stationary! M. Pi GON estimates the smuggled letters, cont- pared with the posted letters, as 45,504,000 to 79,000,000. Various reductions of charge are proposed and discussed ; but our intelli- gent author declares stoutly in favour of a uniform rate of postage. His chapter on this point demonstrates that he is fully alive to its abstract justice, its simplicity, and its convenience. One great ad- vantage, he anticipates, will be, that the number of letters may be easily ascertained, (a statistic valuable in the eyes of a French Post-
master,) and hence an invaluable guarantee will be created against the stealing of letters. Waywardly--fbr no reasons are given in his pamphlet, and indeed opposed to all %Odell he gives-31. Putos stops short of proposing one unlibrm rate. He suggests for Mop- one rate for letters circulating within towns, and another fin' those within the country in general,—one tinitbrnt penny rate (de- eime) for the townehip letter.; not exceeding .50 granunes, or about 11 oz. in weight ; and another•itnifean twopenny (2 declines) rate for all country letters not weighing 1:5 grammes, or about ?; oz.;
township letters between 50 and 100 grammes in weight to be charged 2 declines, and country letters between 14 and 100 grammes
in weight 1 franc.* These rates to be applicable to all letters paid in advance; but letters not so paid, to be charged at the eld rates of postage. Here again M. PinoN's plan is inferior to Mr. MLitt ;
as M. PIRON will discover. For one very great advantage of the new system is, not only uniformity of charge, but pre-payment, which materially lessens the cost and trouble of keeping the ac- counts and of delivery, and prevents abstraction of postage-money • M. Pince:, like our Postage Committee, proposed as much as he thought he could carry, and stopped short at a simple rate. But public opinion in France, being directed to the principle, went ahead of M. PIRON; it at once recognized the justice and simplicity, and has since expressed itself decidedly in favour of the penny rate. There is little doubt now that the penny will he the rate adopted iu France. A convention to permit the interchange of letters between the two countries without additional cost, would be equally beneficial to the people as to the revenue of both kingdoms.
by letter-carriers : but if payment in advance be not insisted upon fiom all, this advantage will be only partially obtained. •
M. PIRON'S pamphlet contains specimens of four stamps which he proposes to use. They are in the form of circular dies, to be impressed on sheets of paper or small pieces of paper, as in Mr. Hies's plan. No I. purports to frank letters for towns and town- ships—" ville pour la ville et rarrondissement "—weighing less than 50 grammes, or VI oz., for one decline, or a penny; No. II. franks letters for towns and townships weighing from 50 to 100 grammes, for twopence; No. III. is for letters weighing less than 15 grammes, the charge twopence ; and No. IV. for letters weighing from 15 to 100 grammes, costing a franc, or tenpence. The last two are for letters not circulating within towns or township:, but throughout the country generally. By means of these four stamps, all French postages are to be collected. We cannot doubt in the least, that further considera- tion will induce M. Piaos and the French authorities to prefer ONE tomaifbrni graduated scale of a decline for every 15 grammes, as more simple and convenient. We can see no reason at all in jumping at once from 2 dechnes to 1 franc. It scents likewise an abandonment at' the principle of uniformity, very ably expounded in the pamphlet, to give one rate for towns and another for the provinces.
But whatever defects there may be in the French scheme, we may be sure that 31. Putox is in earnest, and that he promulgates it with the sanction of his superiors in the Govermnent. We repeat, then, that there is necessity for despatch on the part of the English Legislature and Government, unless we are to be out- stripped in the race- of improvement by competitors who entered the course long after we ought to have won the race. If Mr. SPRING RICE show any disposition to lag behind on Friday next, let him be vigorously spurred and goaded.
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