The Sun.
London, England, 1832-03-14 00:00:00

MEE PING OF NEWS-VENDERS.

A meeting of the Newsvenders in the metropolis was held
last evening at the Mechanics Institution, Southampton-build.
ings, " for the purpose of considering the propriety of address.
ing petitions to Parliament, against the present practice of al-
lowing the clerks and servants of the Post-office to deal in
newspapers, which has been hitherto done to the great injury
of the regular news-venders."

At eight o'clock Mr. KETTLE was voted unanimously to
he Chair.

The CHAIRMAN having briefly stated the object for which
:he meeting was called, expressed his readiness to put any re.

solution which might be proposed by any gentleman.
Mr. FELLOWS moved " that petitions be presented to both
Houses of Parliament, complaining of the servants of the Cie.

neral Post-office being allowed to deal in newspapers, to the

great injury of the regular traders, and to the great inconve.

nience of the public."
Mr. BERESFORI) seconded the resolution, which was

carried unanimously.
Mr. WESTMACOTT said he had hastily prepared a draft
of a petition to Parliament, which he in intended to submit to
them only by way of suggestion, as he thought it would be
better to appoint a Committee to whom it could be referred and
made more perfect, before it was intrusted to a Member of Par.
liawent. lithe present question were one affecting the in-
terests of the newspaper proprietors only, he would not that
evening have appeared at the meeting; but he held it to be one
that affected not only the interests of the newspaper proprietors,
but of the news-venders and of the public generally, for it con.
ccrned all persons interested in the welfare of the press. It was
a question of public importance, and particularly as regarded
the most industrious class of men in the United Kingdom.
—(Loud cheers.) They were persons of great enterprise—

. -
who rose early in the morning, and could not go to sleep
•- - • •

until late in the evening. It was now twelve years since he
first advocated this question in the "Observer of the Times"

which he then conducted—therefore the evil of which they now

complained was riot a new one; but it was of long standing,
and had been growing for a series of yeaas. It was an evil so

opi o to everything like propriety as regarded public ser-
vahts, that it ought to have been done away with long ago.
Were the monopoly possessed by the Post office servants de-
stroyed, the public would be not only better supplied with
newspapers, but much more regularly. lie would now read
the draft of his petition—premising that a gentleman in the

. _
room had also one which he had seen, and as he thought some
of it of importance, it would perhaps be better to refer both

. .
to a Committee, in order that the suggestions in each might
be embodied in one petition.

The petition drawn by Mr. Westmacott was then read—
it stated that the petitioners had embarked a large capital In
publishing newspapers; that there was no other species of pro-
perty so highly taxed, and that yielded so little profit for the
risk of the capital employed; that their business was greatly
injured by the interference of the clerks of the roads, who,
u.ing the privileges which their official situations gave them as
newsvenders, had usurped the rights of the private traders ;
they complained in particular of the advantages which the situ-
ations of the persons employed by the Post-office gave them,
viz. the Post-office being open to them until nearly eight o'clock
in the evening, and of conducting their own country corres-
pondence free of expense, while the newsvenders were either
confined to six o'clock in the evening, or if a little later were
obliged to pay a halfpenny upon each paper, which was nearly u
much as their profit upon the paper; from these circumstances,
and se&ug that the Post-office clerks are exempted from the
heavy expence of offices, servants, &c., it was impossible for
the news-venders to compete with them ; that this interference
by the Government clerks was open to great fraud; that they
had, in many instances, sent circulars throughout the country,
in which they asserted that their official situations were a suf.
ficient guarantee to subscribers, that the latter were sure of
being regularly supplied to the extent of their subscriptions,
(one of which circulars was read), thereby insinuating that
subscribers were not secure in dealing with the regular Newsmen;
that when, during any period of public excitement, there was a
great demand for a particular paper, the Post.office servants
not unfrequently took that paper from the covers and
substituted other papers, sending that paper which was in re-
quest to their own customers ; they complained of many post- •
masters being allowed to act as agents for the Post-office clerks,
and receiving a commission on the sale of papers, by which the
post-masters were directly interested in delaying the newspa.
pars sent by the newsvenders ; and they concluded by expressing
a hope, that while in every other department of the state au
official interference with the fair trader had been put an end
to, his Majesty's Government would not allow this monopoly to
exist any longer, to the manifest injury of the newspaper trade
in general.
The CHAIRMAN then said, that he would read the other
petition, the substance of which was, that the trade had
long laboured under disadvantage, in consequence of the undue
influence of the Clerks of the Roads and the Clerks in the Post.
office; that such influence was alike injurious to the News-
paper dealers and to the revenue; that shipping lists, prices
current, and other unstamped publications were sent by them
into the country under their assumed privilege, while the news
venders were obliged to pay house-rent, servants, postage, &c. ;
that in reference to foreign Newspapers, which were supplied in
London by the Post Office Clerks, a Paris Paper which cost in
Paris 31. 4s. a-year, was charged by them 6/. ifs. a-year, al.
though they were at no expense of conveyance ; the petition
concluded by saying that no disrespect was intended towards
the Post-Master General, the Duke of Richmond, as the evil
existed long before he came into that office.
The reading of the petitions was accompanied by loud cheers.
Several gentlemen then detailed a variety of instances to
show the great inconveniences of the present system ; to show
the temptation held out to the Post-oftice clerks it was stated
that, at a period of great popular excitement, half-a-crown and
upwards have been given in the country for a London news.
paper. . . .

Mr. M A LLILIEU suggested that the trade in foreign news-
papers should be particularly attended to by the committee. A
second or third edition of a London paper could not now be sent to
Paris but by the clerks of the roads ; he had offered the Post-of-
fice clerks a bonus of a guinea a year to be allowed to send a paper
daily to Paris, but it was refused, as they claimed the monopoly
of that supply themselves. If the foreign trade in newspapers
were thrown open, it would open a new source of enterprise
for the London Newsvenders.—(Applause.) The French esta-
fette from Paris was maintained solely at the expense of the
English Post-office, and the bags were not opened till they
reached London ; so that a person at Dover could not have a
letter or paper from Paris until it had first come to London,
This would be remedied if the trade were thrown open.
Mr. WILD moved for the appointment of a Committee,
to whom the two petitions were to be referred, and he re-
commended that the Committee take into their consideration
. _

the statements that had been made, particularly that regarding
the foreign trade in newspapers. He knew it was a matter of
surprise how few English newspapers were sent abroad, and
how few foreign ones were imported ; but it arose solely from
the heavy charges of the Post-office clerks, who were already
sufficiently paid by the public for doing the duties of their office.
If the trade were thrown opt-ii, there would be no objection to
pay a small postage by which the revenue would be benefited ;
at present all the charges went into the pockets of the Yost-office
servants ; and he had no doubt that his Majesty's Government
would accede to the request of the petitioners.
The motion being seconded, was carried unanimously.
The remaining business having been disposed of, thanks were
voted to the Chairman, and the meeting separated.