The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-15 00:00:00

STAMPED SHEETS OF LETTER PAPER.

The following letter, signed Daniel Boland, Cork, has
been addressed to a contemporary
SIR, —The advantages that would accrue to the mer-
cantile an i other interests of the empire by the intro-
duction of impressed postage letter .paper are obvious.
Although the intention is far from attempting to bras
the public from the use or disuse of the envelope as they
please, yet I hope to he permitted to record an opinion
in favour of this superiority of the stamped sheet.
I consider letters of consequence, which may • be in-
tended for the purposes of record or reference, should he
written on the postage stamped paper.; for instance, the
letter, when piisted, becomes a legal and sati*faetory do-
cument, having all the appendages of truth attached on
the identical letter by the writ,r's name, date, ,and ad
i!r,,ss, and the several Post-office dates of posting, trans-
mit, and arrival. How frequently is an envelope mis-
laid, or cast aside, awl if a qtr4tion arises, which often
does in mercantile aod other important business, re-
garding the real date and particulars, when bills or
money orders were pieted or arrived, or when sum-
monses or notices were despatched, the stamped letter
alone can give the only satisfactory explanation.
How often does the penny postage stamp fall off en-
velopes and letters in transit, and the individuals to
whom they are addressed charged with double the pre-
paid rate of postage. The same liability of double
charge attends letters upon which -the stamp is f3rgotten
to be affixed. If they have an overcharge or irregula-itv
of delivery, the Post-office authorities are not always
satisfied in giving redress by merely seeing the cover or
envelope, without, also, asking to see the contents.
Does it not occur in course of business that much
valuable time is wasted seeking through envelopes for
particular documents, and often without success, owing
to the facility afforded in disarrangement of enclosures
and other accidental casualties?
Now, if 'the stamped sheet was availed of, all hesita-
tion in the matter would be removed, and further, it
would preient all mistakes and litigation, and establish
an identity of proof to referred documents much more
satisfactory than envelopes could furnish, providing the
regularity or irregularity of dates, whether of corres-
pondents or of post-offices, by a simple referential view of
the original letter. And in the issue of past-office money
orders would it not be of commercial convenience and
security if these orders were attached to the postage let-
ter paper, whilst the stamped letter paper itself would
abolish all payment of money upon letters.
bot-
tom and two inches of the right. hand edge, with the
leaTf hreif stampos,,htaoguld be
esheeitm, prewitshseind
townothineclabaecsk of the
ofthefly
head of the stamp towardi the right handedge.
The plan embraces a uniform size paper—say ten
inches by eight, with a somewhat similar die to that on
the stamped envelopes, which, if impressed on different
coloured grounds, would be an unerring scale for the par-
ticular priced stamp required in postal correspondence.
It will, no doubt, be said. that envelopes, when
posted, have all the postage marks that any letter
should bear. This is true; but when once the enclosures
are removed, how will you, afterwards, prove they be-
longed to such or such an envelope ? It will also be
asserted that writing on a plain sheet of paper, and stick-
ing an adhesive stamp thereon, answers alt the purposes
of the stamped sheet. This is also true ; but is not the
stamp liable to fall off ? Besides, how frequently is s
stamp not at hand when wanting and then your mes-
senger posts it inadvertently without a stamp—thin
offending your correspondent.
For these reasons, I humbly think the stamped poet
age letter paper would be a great de4deratum. The halt
sheets of stamped postage paper that are distribute,.
from the stamp department of Somerset-house are vain,
less for correspondence .compared a ith the utility of tin
entire sheet of postage letter paper.
These huggestions were respectfulty suhreittedoto,tlif
Post-office authorities in 1850, and auhsequently, by the
originator,