The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-18 00:00:00

NEWSPAPERS AND TIII: POST OFFICE.

Mr. A. S. Page, of King's Lynn, writes to the
Times upon the subject of the restrictions upon the
circulation of newspapers caused by existing post-
office regulations, and he recommends Lord Harting-
ton to signalise his administration by a reform. Mr.
Page, though a country newspaper proprietor, does
not wish to give the Post Office increased labour
without a corresponding increase of revenue ; but
he thinks there is, at least, one restriction
which might be abolished. A rural post-
man is allowed to carry other parcels, but
not newspaper parcels, the idea being that the
revenue would suffer were such permission given.
That idea was right enough when all papers had to
be stamped, but when the circulation of unstamped
papers is so great, there is not the least ground for
supposing that papers which publishers would send
by rural postmen are sent through the post. They
have to be got to the subscribers' hands by means
of carriers' or bakers' carts, or they are sent to the
nearest railway station. Mr. Page says : " I would
allow rural postmen (a hard-worked and a badly-paid
class) to be newspaper agents to carry papers to any
customers they could find on their beats, and to
pocket any little commission they could make by such
transactions. Perhaps I may be allowed to notice
one other fact, and this is, that while the Post Oilice
charges one penny for the transmission of a news-
paper, the railway companies (or some of them I
know) issue halfpenny stamps for a single paper to
any station, without regard to distance." The
example of America we might follow with advantage
for this i nstance,w here the facilities are unusually great,
and the results satisfactory. The establishment of our
own penny post is another argument to shew that
reduced postage is more than compensated by
increased circulation.

A SEVERE JUDGE.

The criminal who appears before Baron Bramwell
is an unlucky man ; the community which has its
criminals tried by that judge is equally lucky. The
other day, at Worcester, a man was indicted for
shooting with intent to murder. A dispute having
arisen between the prisoner and his landlord about
the settlement of his bill, the prisoner fired a pistol
in his landlord's face, severely injuring him. The
wounded man is now out of danger. The prisoner's
defence was to impute an improper intimacy between
his wife and the other man. This was not proved.
Had it been, the judge held that it would have added
proof of his murderous intention. Prisoner received
an excellent character. The jury, thinking " the
quality of mercy is not strained," recommended its
application to the man. Baron Bramwell took no
heed, but sentenced him to penal servitude for life.
A strange contrast this to a case tried at Taunton
lately. A man came home at night in a state of
intoxication, and was heard to quarrel with his wife.
Next day she was found severely injured about the
face, and although she rallied for a time, she suc-
cumbed to concussion of the brain and apoplexy.
The jury found the prisoner guilty, with a strong
recommendation to mercy, and he was sentenced to
a month's imprisonment with hard labour. After all,
the sharpest Justice is the most merciful to the com-
munity at• large. There are enough unknown
murderers amongst us without loosing those caught
red-handed.