The Sun.
London, England, 1855-08-13 00:00:00

THE ANSWER.

" 35,242.
" General Post-office, Aug. 11, 1855.
"Sir,—with reference to your letter of the Bth inst.,
I beg leave to transmit to you the enclosed copies of the
instructions Nos. 40, 44; and 45, 1855, which fully bear
out the view which you have taken of the points men-
tioned in your letter.
I am, Sir, your obedient humble servant,

(Signed) "J. TILLEY."
The answer to the first question is as follows :
" If the publication be addressed to any person within
the free delivery of the place where it is posted, it will be
liable to a postage of one penny, which must be prepaid,
by affixing a postage stamp."
"The free delivery of London, so far as applies to this
rule, extends to such places only as are within three miles
of the General Post-offlce."—(lnstructioia 44, regulation 9.)
To those who are unacquainted with the peculiarities
attendant upon official regulations, it doubtless appears
anomalous that a postage charge should be called for
within the range of what, in the above extract from the
instructions, is denominated the "free delivery." It
is a necessity, however, and experience has taught the
officers that it must be met. It arose in this way.
Many parties connected chiefly with the " weeklies,"
immediately after the reduction of the newspaper stamp
some years since, took advantage of the postal privilege
to the extent of circulating the major part of their
papers to their customers in the metropolis by post
instead of by hand. This was felt to retard the Post-
office duty, and materially to increase the cost of ma-
nagement, hence the order for the penny charge, to
cover the amount of service performed. Even now this
point is evaded by some of the low-priced weekly pa-
pers, which are published on Saturday afternoon. A boy
is sent to Gravesend or Barnet with a sack of papers.
He puts them into the Post-office there, and of course,
as the distance is beyond the " three mile circle," they
are delivered all over the metropolis gratuitously.
The answer to the second question is, " that un-
stamped papers will circulate both within the three mile
circle, and throughout the United Kingdom." The in-
struction (40, 1855) gives the scale :
" Not exceeding 4 oz. in weight, ld. stamp; exceeding
4 oz. and not exceeding 8 oz., 2d.; exceeding 8 02. and
not exceeding 16 oz., 4d. ; ditto, 11b. and not exceeding
6d. ; and so on (book post regulations, sec. 1). News-
papers (unstamped), it sent to the colonies, are subject to
the above regulations as to postage."—(lnstructions 44,
18 -,5.)
The answer to the third question is in the affirma-
tive ; but it must be borne in mind that the newspaper
must " be posted within fifieen, days from the date of
publicatiou."—(44, 1855, sec. 5.)
The Assistant-Secretary, Mr. Tilley, has also kindly
furnished our reporter with a copy of the instructions
with reference to " the transmission of stamped news- ,
papers to the British colonies and foreign countries."—
(Amended Inst., 45, 1855, referring to 44, 1855.) 'We
happen, however, to have gleaned from another source
that, in the course of a few days, that order will be
withdrawn, and that all newpapers sent in future to
the colonies, &c., whether stamped or unstamped,
will pass, without further charge than one penny Queen's
heao, to these places. It will be made a compulsory re-
gulation that a postage label shall be affixed outside the
paper or its cover, when folded. This order is to be in-
troduced as soon as the Treasury warrant is received by
the Post-office authorities, and will have the effect of
preventing the loss of time which now takes place in exa-
mining the " distinctive die" or " Somerset-house
stamp," as it is called in official parlance, and will pre-
vent the annoyance to the public of which we were
amongst the first to complain.
It is essential to the public to know that newspapers
and other periodicals published in the islands of Guern-
sey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and the Isle of Man (which
formerly passed post-free without any stamp), are now
subject to the same regulations as those which are pub-
lished in other parts of the United Kingdom. During
the past week hundreds of these papers have been
charged by tha officers of the Post-office full letter rates
of postage, the Queen's bead not having been affixed in
the first instance.—Morning Advertiser.