The Sun.
London, England, 1839-07-12 00:00:00

ON THE COLLECTION OF POST
AGE BY MEANS OF STAMPS.

In the Third Report of the Select Committee on
Postage (pp. 35-43), it is shown that payment in ad-
vance, by means of stamps, would be convenient to the
public ; would simplify, facilitate, and economize the
operations of the Post-office ; would especially expedite
the delivery of letters, without rendering it in any de-
gree less secure ; and would tend to the security of the
revenue by preventing the errors and frauds which can-
not be altogether guarded against under the present ar-
rangements. Also, that there are no practical difficul-
' ties either in distributing the stamps, or in guarding
' against their forgery.
In this paper it is intended to consider more fully than
has hitherto been done, the different kinds of stamps
which public convenience will require to ascertain their
cost, and to compare that cost with the expense of col-
lecting postage by money payments, as at present.
I have been understeod by many to recommend the
exclusive use of stamped covers ; but a glance at my
evidence will show that such is not the case. The ex-
clusive use of covers would be objectionable on two
grounds ; first, their cost, if they'were supplied at the
charge of Government, would form a serious and unne-
cessary subtraction from the Post-office revenue ; and,
secondly, they would prevent the Post-office stamp from
being struck on the letter itself, which, as shown by
Mr. Moffat (Ev. 4,342-6), is frequently of importance.
As stamped covers would for many purposes be very
convenient, and as, unless exclusively used, they need
not, as I shall shortly show, be supplied at the cost of
Government, it will be important to allow the use of
them ; but I am of opinion that it will also be important
to adopt the suggestion of Mr. John Wood, late Chair-
man of the Board of Stamps (Ev. 2,129), and allow the
public to send letter paper in sheets to the Stamp-
office, there to be stamped in the part used for the ad-
dress ; and, in addition to this suggestion, in order to
meet the wants of all, to supply small stamped detached
labels, say about an inch square, which stationers and
others may paste on sheets of letter paper, envelopes,
&c., or which may be wafered to letters previously
written, or, if prepared with a glutinous wash on the
back, may be attached without a wafer."
These labels, if made of some paper difficult to imi-
tate,* and, like the medicine stamps, printed from com-
plex plates with various colours in the same impression,
thus requiring the combined ingenuity of the paper-
maker, the engraver and the printer, would be secure
against forgery. Their cost would be a mere trifle

(only ld. for 200, even including the expense of distri-
bution through the Post-office, see the subjoined esti-
mate, Appendix A), while their extreme lightness
(1,000 weighing only an ounce) would be such, that
every one might easily carry a stock in his pocket-book ;
and, to avoid the inconvenience of keeping labels of
various prices, two of the penny labels might be used
for an ounce letter, three for an ounce and a half letter,
and so on.

It has been objected to the use of these labels, that
damp or friction might detach them from the letters
while in the mail bags. This,- however, would be of no
consequence. All that is necessary is, that the label
should remain attached until the letter shall have re-
ceived the stamp of the post-office at which it may bo
posted. This post-office stamp must be such, that when
struck across the label, it shall extend a little on one
side, so as not only to prevent the label from being used
a second time, but to mark the letter itself, and thus to
show that it has been properly franked, even though the
label should afterwards become detached.
I would recommend that these labels should be
printed on sheets, each containing 20 rows of 12 in a
row ; a row would then be sold for ls., and a whole
sheet for 1/.

I propose that it shall be made the duty of all post-
masters throughout the kingdom to keep the stamped
labels, and to sell them to all applicants at one penny
each; precautionary measures, which need not be
stated in detail,`being taken to prevent the stock from
being exhausted.

As the trouble of selling labels would probably not
exceed that of receiving money under the present sys-
tem, for postpaid letters—for the labels would generally
be sold several at a time—it would, perhaps, be unne-
cessary to allow the postmaster any poundage. It
would, however, be desirable to make it his interest to
extend the sale of the labels. I would therefore recom-
mend that a poundage be allowed the postmasters, at
least as high as that now allowed distributors and sub-
distributors of stamps (from 1 to 3 per cent.—Ev. 2,173
--say the maximum, or 3 per cent. on all) and that
they should be put under the same regulations as the
examination of stock, mode of payment, &c.
Having thus secured a means by which any one
may, if he think proper, purchase a single stamp, and
thus for Id. frank his letter written on any kind of pa-
per in any part of the kingdom where it can be posted
(an arrangement which is very important to a poor
man), I conceive the distribution of stamped letter
paper and stamped covers may safely be left to the or-
dinary commercial channels. It does not appear neces-
sary to require either the stamp distributors or the
postmasters to keep letter paper or covers on sale ;
nor, on the other hand, to allow so great a poundage on
labels as to induce stationers to keep labels oo sale.
There would, of course, be no objection to permitting
the sale of labels by stationers, or of stamped letter
paper and covers by stamp-distributors and postmasters ;
the terms being, as nearly as practicable, the same for
all, and thus the very appearance of a monopoly avoided.
With regard to letter paper sent to be stamped, in
sheets (which of course must be sent in large quantities
at a time,) the Stamp-office would charge the nominal
value of the stamps (a penny per sheet for penny
stamps, twopence per sheet fcr twopenny stamps, &c.)
It would not be necessary to allow any poundage, nor
need the cost of carriage, which would, of course, be
the same whether the paper were stamped or unstamped,
be borne by the State. The only cost to the Govern-
ment would be, that of applying the stamp, keeping the
necessary accounts, packing, &c., which Mr. Wood es-
timates at Is. per 1,000 sheets, or Id. for about 80.—
(Ev. 2,122.)
With regard to stamped covers, I would recommend
that they should be made of the same paper as the
labels, and of two sizes ;—one, that of half a sheet of
letter paper ; the other, such as would be required for
making up into the little bags called envelopes. The
latter would be little more than half the size of the
former. They should be sold to the public in large
quantities only, at prime cost (say at the rate of Id.
for II of the larger, or 20 of the smaller covers)
plus the value of the stamps ; and the lower
price of the smaller covers would probably enable the
stationers to make them up into envelopes, and sell
them as such, at the same price with the larger covers,
which latter would require no manipulation. Here, as
in the case of the stamped letter paper, no poundage
need be allowed, nor would the carriage be at the
cost of the State. With respect to covers, therefore,
the Government need be at no cost whatever.
The prices to the consumer of the stamped letter
paper and covers would, under this arrangement, be
regulated by competition, as that of unstamped letter
paper and covers now is. In most places, they would
probably not exceed I id. for a sheet of common letter
paper, and 14d. for a cover or envelope postage in-
cluded.

It would be convenient to the public in saving the
necessity for weighing letters, if the letter paper were
made of definite weights, as I, 4, and two sheets to
the half-ounce, with an allowance for the seal, and
marked accordingly ; but this would of course be left
with the paper-makers and stationers.

Subjoined is a table drawn out for the purpose of
exhibiting, respectively, the cost of collecting the post-
office-office revenue by means of stamps, and by means
of money payments on delivery. The latter cost is so
mixed up with other expenses, that it is impossible to
determine it with anything like precision, but the sub-
joined estimate (Appendix B), which makes it, under
the conditions of a fivefold increase of letters and
uniformity of rate, the 10th of Id. per letter, is cer-
tainly not too high :