The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-06 00:00:00

THE NEWSPAPER STAMP.

The following memorial was presented to the Right
Hon. Sir G. Cornewall Lewis, Bart., Chancellor of the
Exchequer, on the 4th of April, 1855, by a deputation
of the Yorkshire newspaper proprietors, consisting of
Mr. E. Baines (Leeds Mercury), Mr. Kemplay (Leeds
Intelligences), Mr. Robert Leader, jun. (Sheffield Inde-
pendent), Mr. Alfred Hargrove ( York Herald), and Mr,
J. U. Walker, ( Halifax Guardian).
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE CHANCELLOR OF THE
EXCHEQUER.
The Memorial of the Proprietors of Yorkshire News-
papers,
assembled at Leeds on the 2d April, 1855.
Your memorialists beg respectfully to lay before you
the following resolution, passed unanimously at the
above meeting :-
"The House of Commons having recognised the princi-
ple of unstamped newspapers being legalised, and that the
use of the news stamp shall be compulsory only for the
purpose of free transmission, this meeting is ofoprienait onThat in the opinion of this meeting it would be
a g
ad-
vantage to the public, and a convenience to newspaper pro o
e
prietors, as well as an actual and considerable gain to pl
revenue, if the proposed stamp on newspapers, to entitle
them to transmission and re-transmission througa the Post-
office, were a halfpenny instead of a P
were also issued halfpenny stamped covers,
and if there
rs,:tolentitle mi-
st:raped copies of registered newspapers to a single trans-
minion through the post."
Your memorialists are aware that, in deciding between
the penny and the halfpenny stamp, you
to look, in the first place, at the interests will
o feel it right
f the revenue
-but in the second place, not to overlook the advantage
and Convenience to the public. In their judgment both
of these objects would be advanced by the adoption of
the halfpenny stamp.
I. The revenue.
It admits of no doubt that, when newspapers may be
egally published without stamps, the number of papers
stamped for the purpose of freeing the post, supposing
the Price of the stamp to be a penny, will be greatly be-
low the number which now pass through the post-office.
unstemped papers will then be sent in numbers by rail-
ways and other conveyances, and will be distributed by
special messengers, or sold by letter-carriers. Whatever
may be said of the reasonableness of the charge of a
penny for conveying newspapers by the post, it is cer-
tain that no one will pay the penny if he can obtain his
paper delivered for a halfpenny, still less if he can have
it delivered free of charge for conveyance. In nearly all
towns, we apprehend, the services of the Post-office will
be dispensed with for the distribution of newspapers ;
and also in most villages and country districts news-
agents will arise, and will make their profit by doing
that which is at present done by the post, and disposing
of newspapers and other publications. The letter-car-
riers will themselves become dealers in unstamped pa-
st,
That this will be the case is evident, on considering
the large percentage which a penny bears to the price
of the newspaper : on a fourpenny newspaper it is 25
per cent., on a threepenny paper 33 per cent., on a two-
penny paper 50 per cent., and on a penny paper 100 per
C Alt. This large percentage falling upon a paper re-
ceived weekly, or even daily, will induce all to avoid it
'who can. And there are comparatively few who will
not be able to have an unstamped paper delivered for
a halfpenny, or even less, in one or other methods al-
ti ady indicated.
It may be assumed that the tendency of the news-
paper trade wilt be towards the publication of smaller
and cheaper papers ; and as the charge of one penny on
such papers will be higher in proportion than on the
existing papers, extremely few of those new publication.
will be likely to be printed on penny stamps.
Your memorialists can answer for themselves, that if
the stamp should be a penny, they would at once be
compelled to devise, with the aid of their agents and cus-
tomers, every means of sending their papers by railway
parcels and in other modes ; and they believe that they
would beeahle to send by far the greater proportion of
their papers which now pass through the post by other
and cheaper methods, so as to avoid using stamped
paper for them.
It may be expected that the railway companies will
afford every facility for the regular and cheap conveyance
of newspapers, so as to compete with and undersell the
Post-office ;in which object they would certainly to a
great extent succeed.
The future proportions of stamped and unstamped
newspapers may in some degree be judged of by the
class of publications, which have part of their issue
stamped and the rest unstamped. It is believed that by
very far the larger proportion of the impressions issued
are unstamped. Of Punch, as stated by yourself in the
House of Commons, only 8,000 copies are stamped, and
32,000 unstamped-being only one-fifth of the whole im-
pression stamped. If this is the case with a publication
sold at threepence, it may be assumed that a far less
proportion of any publication sold at twopence receives
a stamp, if any at all. And in future it cannot be ex-
pected that any papers of which the price is below three-
pence would receive a penny stamp.
Considering all the circumstances which have been re-
ferred to, it seems not improbable that the number of
newspapers sent through the Post-office would in future
be reduced at least one-half, and possibly two-thirds ;
and as the expenses of the Post-office could not be re-
duced in anything like a corresponding proportion, the
revenue may suffer more seriously than you yourself have
contemplated.
If, however, instead of a penny stamp for newspapers
to entitle them to transmission and re-transmission
through the Post-office, only a halfpenny stamp were
required, your memorialists believe that an immensely
larger proportion of newspapers issued would be printed
on stamped paper. The difference of the halfpenny would
in many, if not in most, cases remove the inducement
to prefer unstamped to stamped copies. It would prac-
tically equalise the cost of the stamped and unstamped
copies, except in the places of publication. The Post-
°dice, generally speaking, would then deliver newspapers
as cheaply as they could be delivered in any other way.
There might in some cases be a fractional difference (not,
however, equal to the smallest coin in circulation) in
favour of distribution by news-agents, or special mes-
sengers, but the difference would be so slight as to induce
newspaper proprietors to prefer the less troublesome
mode of the Post-office ; and their customers would pro-
bably wish to receive their newspapers, along with their
letters, by the post delivery, as at present. A halfpenny
stamp would be universally approved, and scarcely any
would think it worth their while to inquire if a cheaper
mode of delivery could be found. Not only fourpenny and
threepenny papers, but probably even twopenny papers,
would print a considerable part of their impression on
stamped sheets. Of course, when newspapers were sold
(tamp included) at least a halfpenny cheaper than at
present, the circulation would be stimulated, and a.
larger proportion would pass through the Post-office ;
still more would this be the case, if the existing papers
were issued at a greater reduction of price than a half-
penny, or if new publications should appear of a smaller
size and lower price than the present. It may be con-
fidently assumed that the tendency of a halfpenny stamp
would be continually towards an ham eased consumption,
whilst the tendency of a penny stamp would be con-
tinually towards a diminished consumption.
What would be the amount of the increase in the num-
ber of newspapers issued and sent through the Post-office
can only be matter of coejecture. But there are reasons
for believing that the increase would be very great. Ac
cording to a paper just printed by the House of Lords
(No. 59), the number of stamps issued to newspapers in
1835, before the former reduction of
the newspaper
stamp, was 32,973,400, and the number issued in 1854
was 111,977,408, showing an increase in twenty years
of 79,004,008, or 239 per cent.
The reduction in the price of the existing papers likely
to take place now will not be quite so great in proportion
as it was twenty years ago ; but, considering the proba-
bility of new and smaller papers being published, at a
lower price, and that every reduction of price brings
newspapers within the means of a much larger class of
the population, whilst the progress of education is also
augmenting the number of readers, it seems not impro-
bable that ere long the number of copies of newspapers
issued in this country will be threefold the present
number.
It will not, therefore, be an over-estimate to compute
that the number of newspapers printed on half-penny
stamps to clear the post, would be at least double the
number which now pass through the Post-office.
If, then, the effect of a penny stamp would be to re-
duce the number of stamped papers at least one-half,
and the effect of a halfpenny stamp would be to double
them, the difference between the two rates would be
fourfold in favour of the cheaper. Of course it is not
meant that four times as many papers would be printed
in the one case as in the other, but that four times as
many would be 1 rioted on stamps, to pass through the : ..., _ ,
l-inOgnbeggars,- Monday,
a constabularyndthaernongtheman
tools 1"
unpicsieve-PraAlusPtErßol.
Post-office.
oldhspqr:ster, named Ante! Kehoe, who had passed her
Your memorialists regret their inability, from the ab-
-64t winter. On examining her prayer-book, it was
Unice of any published returns of the expense thrown
upon the Post-office by the transmission of newspapers,
found to contain the sum of 991
Ilrexford Inge en
. and
a few
shillings 1---
t°,_ show the advantage which they believe would accrue
A. Delicious Peva-
with the Penn
- the revenue from the halfpenny stamp in comparison
i ADVERTISEXENT.I—Many th sa ?Tires have been
effected without medicine, by Dounß na
the fallacy oe stamp. It would be superfluous to expose
stain
mode of calculating which throws on lenta Arabica Food, of indigestion (aerY
pyrolysis, &c. We
lipaZoaretee, ae
_put. op proportion of the total expenditure of the I nervous, bilious, and liver complaint:Ll:eV;c.onstipation
the newspapers to proportion. which the weight of I quote a few :-Cure No. 52,612.-From the Dowse
tha to the weight of the letters. It Countess of Castlestuart.-" Rosstrevor, County of Downer,
may be assumed Ireland, 9th December, 1851.-The Dowager Countess of
and will continue I Castlestuart feels induced, in the interest of snfferin huo-
tion for the coaveyane
t the Post-office was established,
eto exi t . i stitu-
inanity, to state that Du Barry's excellent RevalentagAra-
''', mainly as a national n
tion, therefore, ie, ;,,eboal Ilttere. The practical ques-
bica, Food has cured her, after all medicines had failed,
newspapers, over and abot above the The , iof indigestion, bile, great nervousness and irritability of
cursed and must be incurredv for
question by
expeexnpseenssewhoicf
hcaarrreyiinng.
1 many years' standing. This Food deserves the confidence Such was the view taken of the conveyance of letters? 1
1 of all sufferers, and may be considered a real blessing.
land Hill, the present Secrets Mr. Row- j Inquiries will be cheerfully answered." Caro No. 71. $•
before the Common,
Yoototrneider as we !
of the Post-office, in his ,I Of dyspepsia, from the Bight Hon. the Lord Stuart de
, ande establishment
stamps in 1851. He said-a:s;lntnittee on newspa,per ; Decies.- • I have derived considerable benefit._
.from Du
probobly should, thkt the expenses Barry's R. eval
tthaeArnabbliicoatoFoocl
authorise, and consider it totatdioune
ofto
are incurred in respect of the letters ! yourselves andtuartp
-de Decies." Cure No. 32,836.-From
the additional expense which would be tin.° Archdeacon of Rem.- "Three years exces-
for the transmission of newspapers, therna upon illy calculate these lines.-Stuart
with painsin myneck and left arm, and ge-
should find them profitable." (Question ler think we i sivo nervousness,
rendered my life very miserable, has
us the Venerable
, 02.) when., reral debility, which
asked, " Suppose the newspapers were removed air;
gether from you, how much could you reduce your ex- -Alex. Stuart,Archdeacon of Ross, Skibereen." Cure No.
I been radical] removed by Du Barry's health-restoring Food
.. 14 ,
nenees ?" he replied, "Very little indeed." nervousness, debility,
1,872.) (Queetion il wi''''t°}l3.-"Eht ears' dyspepsia,
1 tuallv cramps, spasms have been effec-
, s remoe
The practical questien for the Government in deciding short tine
between a penny stamp and a halfpenny stamp, of i Norfolke.-
leev. John W. Flave , Ridlinet n Rectory
ed by De Barry's drilicious Food in a very
is,what would the newspapers yield in each case 1 agony from Cure,..rs No. Course
u ness asthma, cough, consto
51,416.—" Fifty yearsPin°deseribably,
over the expenditure specially entailed upon the Post- nation Reese' ssersia, nervo s ,
It is obvious if ml•angs, have be
i.• ' -eucY, sPasms, sickness at the stomach and vo-
office foe that Anewarticular service. - that,
Maria Jolly 4n, renurved by Du Barry's excellent Food.
the number tspapers was reduced to one half, a? , Tro.
3,906.---"inar'eta'n, Ling, near Diss, Norfolk." Cure
expenditure specially entailed upon newspapers wouldl ral debility have neenY'a,..2' sough, indigestion, and gene.
suitably packed for all climatesthenotthe
, and with full instruc-
the Post-office would not be doubled.
lls. ; 121 b., 225.;
The opinion formed by your memorialists as to the
Teuhpco rzeibfi.neadn,dllbl2.ll36.s.,
carriage 'feed on
recei t of' post
through the Post-office, if required to bear a penny
street, London; Fortnum,aMi -lin, -nee°,' Ill: Re en.
stamp, entirely agrees with that expressed by Mr. Row-
her Majesty, 182, Piccadilly; aealso" a -s-,t- aki,„„_Porveyogrs to
Regent-
land Hill to the Commons' committee. He stated that Graccchurch-street ; 330 and 451, Strand ,-"eetnhill • 60,
the number of newspaper stamps issued in 1849 was Oxford-street ;55 Charing-cross ; 4 01i ~nl...ancl'lso
79 millions, and the number of stamps M, Upperßaker-et'reets • eeee ;
_25 and
computed to

These are manifest grounds of distinction between
newspapers, or at least between periodical publications,
and other printed matter. Your memorialists would be
glad if all printed matter could enjoy the same privilege
which they ask for newspapers; but if that cannot be
the case, there are weighty reasons in favour of granting'
it to them ; and your memorialists humbly submit that
they have made out an independent case in favour of a
halfpenny stamp on newspapers, showing that the adop-
tion of that measnre would be at once profitable to the
revenue and a great public advantage.
In conclusion, your memorialists beg to recommend
the adoption of halfpenny stamped covers, which would
entitle unstamped copies of newspapers to a single trans-
mission through the post. The arguments in favour of
this measure are so fully involved in those aiready sub-
mitted on behalf of the halfpenny newspaper stamp
that it is needless to occupy your time by stating them.
Your memorialists are of opinion that the halfpenny
stamped covers would be a great convenience to the
public, as well as profitable to the revenue.
(Signed) EDWARD BAINES, Chairman.
Leeds, April 2, 1855.

have passed through the Post-office was 654 millions ;
and assuming that in future, if the stamp duty were
repealed, and a newspaper paid a penny every
time it passed through the office, he thought it a
"highN e
w t h
ee sut iummabtee
r"
ctfo s
tenxr
ep epcst
ishsaulefd t
ih p
ne
18r5e4s present number.
was
t ll2
mil-
lionsmillions; andabove,
93 if
wouldwe adoptpass throughthesam same proportion
Post-offi c ea! -
by the adoption of a penny stamp on the repeal of the
existing duty, the number of papers sent through the
Post-office was reduced to one-half, the number would
then be 464 millions, which, at one penny each, would
v. id 193,7501.
yield 193,7501.
But we have thought it reasonable to calculate that,
with a halfpenny stamp, the number of newspapers pass-
ing through the Post-office would be doubled. Instead
of 93 millions, there would be 186 millions, which, at a
halfpenny each, would yield 387,5001.
Your memorialists are unable to calculate the net pro-
fit to the Government ; but it is in the highest degree
probable that the halfpenny would yield a considerably
larger profit than the penny. There is a single conside-
ration which seems to put the safety of adopting the half-
penny beyond a doubt—namely, that even assuming the
number of newspapers passing through the post with a
halfpenny stamp to be no greater than it is at present,
and also assuming (with Mr. Rowland Hill) that the
number at a penny would be reduced one-half, the pro-
duce of the halfpenny stamp would be as great as that of
the penny stamp. On the supposition of only the sane
number of papers being posted as at present, of course
there would be no increase whatever of the expenses of the
Post-office ; and it has been seen that Mr. Hill has stated
that, "suppose the newspapers were removed altogether,"
the Post-office could only reduce its expenses "very
little." Therefore, it may safely be concluded that
the expenses would not be reduced, to any appreciable
extent, by a diminution of the newspapers one-half. It
follows irresistibly that on this, the least favourable sup-
position which it is possible to take, the revenue would
gain as much by the halfpenny as by the penny stamp.
Therefore the measure which your memorialists recom-
mend is free from the possibility of less, whilst it holds
out a reasonable prospect of considerable gain.
11. The public advantage and convenience.
It is obvious that persons living in villages and country
districts wouldsave a halfpenny on each paper which they
receive, in case of the adoption of the halfpenny stamp,
either as compared with the present state of things, or
with that which would exist under a penny stamp. The
lower rate would operate as the greatest advantage to
those whose difficulty of receiving public intelligence is
necessarily, from their local position, the greatest. The
measure would, therefore, promote the diffusion of
knowledge, and afford the country districts nearly the
same intellectual advantages as are enjoyed in towns.
Your memorialists can testify that among their own
body, the newspaper proprietors, most of whom have
looked with alarm on the measure of the Government,
the adoption of the halfpenny stamp would do very
much to remove their objections. It would be regarded
as an important boon, especially by those in the agricul-
tural counties, where we believe many proprietors would
Print their entire impression on stamped paper, so large
is the proportion of copies which they send through the
Post-office.
The halfpenny stamp would allow the newspaper busi-
ness to be carried on with the existing arrangements,
and with the least possible disturbance of those arrange-
ments either to publishers, news agents, or subscribers.
It is a consideration not unworthy of influencing the
Government and the Legislature, that the lower rate of
stamp recommended by your memorialists would give to
the largest and best-conducted newspapers, published in
London and the chief cities and towns of the kingdom,
very nearly the same facilities of circulation as would be
enjoyed by small local papers. With a penny stamp, the
latter would receive a factitious and undesirable stimulus.
With a half-penny stamp, the ablest political writing
and the best news would stand on nearly equal ground
throughout the whole cJuntry with the most inferior
publications.
Combining, therefore, the interests of the revenue
with the advantage and convenience of the public, your
memorialists confidently submit that the halfpenny
stamp would be better than the penny stamp.
If they should be met with the objection that the same
advantages which are allowed to newspapers must be
allowed to all other printed matter, they reply, in the
first place, that they think it probable the lower rate of
charge would be more profitable to the revenue even
when so applied. But if this should not be so, they
respectfully submit that there are several strong grounds
of distinction in favour of newspapers, namely :
1. That newspapers have from their origin been con-
veyed free through the post, which has not been the case
with books and other printed matter.
2. That it is much more for the public convenience
that the circulation of news should be thus facilitated
than any other kind of publication.
111. That newspapers, being published weekly, semi-
weekly, and even daily, it is not unreasonable that the
postage on thew should be lighter than on publications
of a casual and irregular kind.
IV. That as newspapers immensely outnumber all
other publications, they are the best customers to the
revenue, and may demand the most favourable treatment.
V. That newspaper, owing to the great compression
of their contents by means of small type (some of them
including as much print as an ordinary uctavo volume),
and the very low price at which they are published in
comparison with books, afford the maximum of matter
at the minimum of price ; from which consideration, to-
gether with the regularity and frequency of their publi-
cation, they are less able to bear a high rate of postage
than volumes or occasional publications.
VI. That newspaper proprietors, being subject to spe-
cial restrictions, in the form of securities required from
them, are entitled to some distinctive advantage by way
of compensation.