The Sun.
London, England, 1839-11-14 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION.

THE N.P.W. POSTAGE.
, (We republish this important Document, for
ll more general information.)
1 *We have great pleasure in laying before our
readers the first important step towards carrying
into execution the plan for a Uniform Penny Pos-
tage. In order N familiarize the persons engaged
at the Post-office and the public with the new ar-
rangements for charging by weight, that plan is to
take effect on the sth of December. At the same time
' the public will have the benefit of a reduction of
1 all rat'ss above 4d., to that sum, the reason for not
1 red'acing it at once to ld., being to avoid encum-
, •
siering the new arrangement with the great influx of
! letters which might then be expected. The Post-
' office, it -will be seen will, after the sth of Decem-
ben, carry packages of the weight of lib. on paying a
1, proportionate. postage. The inhabitants of the
London district will be immediately gratified
by o. penny pre-payment postage, which will
serve gradually to introduce the uniform penny rate
1 over the whole empire. For this attention to
ri the public wants the Ministers deserve
the nation's gratitude and best thanks ; what
their opponents would have done were they in office
mire be known from the pages of the Quarterly
2?evirtu and the Tory journals, several of which
still daily provethe public ought not
labour to that
to have a cheap and uniform postage. Here is the
TREASURY MINUTE,
it DATED NOV. 12, 1839.
Mc Lords read the Act 2 and 3 Victoria, cap.
32, for the furthet Regulation of the Duties on
Postaae until the sth October, 1840.
Since the prorogation of Parliament my Lords
) have varned their unremitting attention to the mea-
sures necessary for carrying into effect the intention
iof the Legislature.
The power with which this Board are invested
1 by the Act were recommended to Parliament, not
I only for the purpose of enabling my Lords to adopt
such mode of payment as might on consideration
appear the most advisable, but also to enable my
Lords to carry into practical effect this great altera-
tion in the manner which might be least liable to
derange the regularity and the dispatch of the cor-
respondence of the country as now executed by the
Post Office.
My Lords have always been aware that the con-
temporaneous adoption of charging letters by weight
and the reduction of postage to an uniform rate of
one penny would be attended with much practical
difficulty. The time occupied now at the large
offices, and at the forward offices, in charging and
sorting the letters, has been reduced for the public
convenience to as narrow limits as possible.
To alter the mode of charge from that to
which the officers of the Post Office have been
long accustomed, must of itself for a time
be accompanied with some inconvenience, and my
Lords apprehend it would be imprudent to increase
that difficulty by adding at the same moment so
large a number ni letters as must naturally arise
1 from the immediate reduction to the pen-ny rate.
My Lords fear, that for a time at least, great
irregularities would prevail, and much public incon-
venience result. However satisfactory, therefore,
and however desirable in many points of view,
it might be, to carry into execution cotem-
poraneously the complete plan, their Lordships
upon a full consideration have come to the conclu-
sion that, by adopting some-intermediate measure,
and bringing into operation the mode of charging,
the letters by weight, previous to the entire reduc-
tion of the rate of postage, their Lordships will not
only avoid the risk to which the other course is lia-
ble, but materially facilitate the introduction of the
remaining parts of the plan.
With these opinions their Lordships have, in
communication with the authorities of the Post
Office, turned their attention to the framing such
regulations as may introduce, with as little delay
as possible, the charge by weight. Their Lord-
ships propose to accompany this arrangement with
such reduction of postage as will be a material
relief to the public and ni,,-. i.,terfere with the pro-
per di ;charge of the duties of the officers of the
'Post. Office, as at present arranged.
I.By the regulations which, in conjunction with the
post Office, have been matured, and which this
Board propose to sanction, my Lords apprehend
material advantages will be secured. A consider-
able relief will be given to the public, as regards
the charge of letters. One of the great departmental
difficulties in introducing the penny rate will be re-
moved, and such information be obtained as will
friable my Lords to adopt with more security, and
consequently at an earlier period, the remaining
part of the system.
In giving their sanction to the proposed arrange-
ment, my Lords consider it as a temporary measure
only, and as a step to the introduction of the uni-
form penny charge ; and their Lordships will con-
tinue their anxious efforts to give effect to the whole
of the intentions of the Legislature with as little
delay as is consistent with the due consideration of
the public convenience.
Their Lordships are pleased to direct that all
letters posted on or after the sth of December next
shall be subject to the following regulations.
General Post Letters_shall be charged by weight
as follows :-
1. Letters not exceeding 1 oz. one Postage.
do. ...
do.
do. .. . 3 do. 6 do.