The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-24 00:00:00

My Lords,—The Postmaster• General, as requested by
your lordships, has done me the favour to furnish me with
a copy of your minute of the 11th inst., granting me a spe-
cial superannuation allowance on retiring from my office
as Secretary to the Post-office, and convoying to me the
very favourable opinion which your lordships are pleased to
express of the manner in which I have discharged my duties.
It cannot be necessary to assure your lordships of the
deep gratification with which I have received so handsome
and elaborate a recognition of my services. I have only to
beg that you will be pleased to accapt my most respectful
thanks.

In a document so highly complimentary, I hesitate to
notice what would appear to be an admission, inadvertently
made, to the effect that the adoption of the uniform penny
postage was urged by others before the development of my
plans; this, I assure your lordships, is an error; and, as
uniformity of rate constitutes the main feature of my plan,
I am naturally anxious to place before you the real facts of
he case. I trust, therefore, you will pardon me if I request
attention to the enclosed memorandum on the subject.

I need scarcely add, that should the expectations of my
medical friends, of improved health, from rest, be realised.
And any occasion arise in which it may appear to your lord-
ships that my assistance or advice in further postal improve-
ments may be of advantage, I shall Lel donoared by being
permitted to place them at your disposal.—l have, &c.
(Signed) HOWLAND 11.1141..
The Right Hon. the Lords Commissioners
of her Majesty's Treasury, &c.
MEMORANDUM.

A low and uniform rate of postage forms the most essen-
tial feature of my plan of postal reform, and I have no hesi-
tation in stating that its onception originated wholly with
myself. To guard against future error I ask permission to
place on record a brief statement of facts.

The principle of uniformity of rate, now that it has been

in successful operation for nearly a quarter of a century,

appears, perhaps, simple and obvious; bur so far from its
having been, as it is sometimes supposed, the happy thought
of a moment, it was the result of most laborious investiga•
tion on my part. Indeed, a slight consideration will show
that its conception necessarily involved a previous disco.
very, viz., that the cost per letter of mere transit within the
limits of the United Kingdom was practically inappre-

oiable, or at least that it was not dependent mainly on dis-
tance, being in fact quite as much dependent on the number
of letters contained in the particular mail, as on the distance
that mail was carried. Indeed, it was shown from careful

investigation that the cost of mere conveyance, even for so
great a distance as from London to Elinburgh, was only
the 36th part of a penny per letfer. From this and other
facts it followed that a uniform rate was more just than one

varying according to distance. The convenience of uni-
formity was obvious.
I may add that when I first entered on the investigations
preparatory to the construction of my plan,
I myself had no
conception of the practicability of a uniform rate ; and that
the discovery referred to above was as startling to myself,
as it proved when announced to the public at large.
A reference to my original pamphlet, a copy of which is,
I presume, still in your lordships' possession, or to my evi-
dence before the select committee of 1838, appointed to in-
quire into the practicability of say plans, will show the
various steps by which I arrived at the conclusion that a
uniform penny rate was at once just and practicable.
There is but one other person, so far as I am aware, to
whom the suggestion of a uniform penny rate has, with even
the slightest plausibility, even bee* assigned—l refer to the
late Mr. Wallace, formerly membei for Greenock, and chair-
man of the select committee on postage in 1838 ; but
though Mr. Wallace frequently uged, among other useful
reforms, a great redaction in the postal charges, I can say
from personal knowledge that he had no idea whatever of a
uniform rate until after the publication of my pamphlet.
Indeed, this sufficiently appears from the speech in Parlia •
ment in July, 1835, the last occasion on which, before the
publication of my pamphlet, he referred to the rates of
postage. The following is as extract from Hansard (vol.
35, 3d series, p. 422) ;
" At the same time the rates o! postage ought to be re-
duced. It would be proper not to charge more than 3d for
any letter sent a distance of 50 miles; for 100 miles, 41;
200, 6d ; and the highest rate d postage ought not to be
more than 8d or Od at most."
Fnrther evidence upon this point is also in my possession,
which can be submitted should it be deemed necessary.
(Signed) ROWLAND HILL,
Hampstead, March 17, 1864.