The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-21 00:00:00

the Post-office is now the institution of the mi.

lion. The increase of letters is indeed only mea-
sured by millions. Nineteen millions more last
year, for instance, than in the year preceding !
And since the institution of the Penny Postage
in 1840, an increase of 447 millions ; making the
number of letters delivered last year nearly seven

times as many as in the year 1839, when the old
rates were in force. Setting aside, therefore, nume-
rous and valuable improvements and additions—
the Money-order system, and the Book Post espe-
cially—the main grand result is one for which
Englishmen all over the world owe to Mr. Row-

LAND HILL a debt of gratitude which they canno

forget.

It is not, therefore, in the spirit of captious
complaint that we advert to one or two small prac-
tical matters which are sometimes very annoying in
their working. We will mention only what we

have met with in the last week in connection
with our own office. They must be instances of
what must be daily teasing to others, as well us to
us ; and we hope he will give them his kind and
patient consideration.

But a few days ago we received from a friendly
local journal of large circulation a number of slips,
evidently posted at the eleventh hour, containing
a full report of what our brother journalist thought
was in great part matter of national interest. Had
it come by book-post, it would have come for one
penny, for it barely exceeded the ounce weight; so
slightly, indeed, that probably putting on the
stamps afterwards turned the scale. Probably, in
the haste of the last minute, the book-post was
not thought of, or possibly the knowledge that it
might as a book parcel be detained for examination
led our correspondent to prefer the envelope. Yet
for this anyhow obviously accidental error we had
to pay FOURPENCE extra. Why fourpence ?
Everyone familiar with the Post-office knows,
firstly, that the penalty for accident as well as fraud
(and we admit that in this business the penalty

must be the same) is double the deficient postage ;
and, secondly, that, like Sir ROBERT PEEL'S jump-
ing scale, the payment scale for letters, after two
preparatory steps of one penny for each half-ounce,
sets off in twopenny jumps. Whether you want,
an ounce or not, you must pay for an ounce. If
the putting on of the postage-stamp but causes the
scale to vibrate when you have put on the two,
you must put on two more to satisfy the demand
of the jumping scale. A similar principle is adopted

in the book-post.
Now, is this a fair penalty ? Suppose that some
harsh drill like this were needful to make people
careful at first (which we do not believe), it is
totally unnecessary now. There is no disposition
to cheat the Post-office. We all willingly pay the
fair charge for a letter. We do not, however, wil-
lingly pay this charge. The accident is never the

fault of the receiver, who must always bear the pe-
nalty. Were the amount more important, he would
not like to inform the sender of his mistake, it being
generally caused by a haste to accommodate the
receiver. How often, as in the instance
we refer to, does " immediate " show
the urgency under which it was sent. Fraud in
these under-stamped letters is, we repeat, the rare
exception, and the punishment ought therefore to
be as light as possible. Our definitive, and we
think fair suggestion to Mr. HILL is-Ist, that his
scale of charges should give up jumping, and pro-
ceed at the regular pace of one penny for every half
ounce additional. 2dly, that one penny in excess
of the extra postage, in every case, is a sufficient
penalty to inflict on the receiver for his friend's
oversight—or, if Mr. HILL prefers, to pay for the
trouble of charging the letter, and keeping the ac-
count with the letter carrier. At present every
person who has to pay, as we often have done, four-
pence for a friend's sending us, accidentally, with a
twopenny stamp, the two-hundredth part of an
ounce too much, feels very much as he does when a
cabman demands of him double fair. " Anything
fair," " anything even a little generous," but "no

imposition, not even a penny."
This is our chief grievance. Another is local.
Our office is in one of the busiest thoroughfares of
the metropolis—but we have not the felicity of
living East of Temple Bar, and under the benign
rule of the Mayor and Corporation of London City.
We find that, in consequence of this, the country
letters, which come by the mails arriving in the
middle hours of the day, are not delivered to us till
from three to four hours later than they are to those
who live within the artificial London. To a news-
paper this is, of course, of the greatest consequence.
We have, we think, a right to complain, when we
have found letters reaching the Stock Exchange