The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-03-12 00:00:00

COMMITTEE ON POSTAGE.

We have just received the third report on this subject, and
extract from the conclusion of it the following, which are the
results at which the committee have arrived :
The principal points which appear to your committee to
have been established in evidence are the following :
The exceedingly slow advance, and occasionally retrograde
movement, of the Postoffice revenue during the period of the
last twenty years.
The fact of the charge of postage exceeding the cost in a
manifold proportion.
The fact of postage being evaded most extensively by all
classes of society, and of correspondence being suppressed,
more especially among the middle and the lower classes of
the people ; and this in consequence—as all the witnesses,
including many of the postoffice authorities, think—of the
excessively high scale of taxation.
The fact of very injurious effects resulting from this state
of things to the commerce and industry of the country, and
to the social habits and moral condition of the people.
The fact, so far as conclusions can be drawn from very
imperfect data, that whenever on former occasions large re-
ductions in the rates have been made, those reductions have
been followed, in short periods of time, by an extension of
correspondence proportionate to the contraction of the rates.
And as matter of inference from fact and opinion,
That the only remedies for the evils above stated are, a re-
duction of the rates, and the establishment of different de-
liveries and more frequent despatches of letters.
That owing, to the rapid extension of railroads, there is
an urgent and daily increasing necessity for making such
changes.
That any moderate reduction in the rates would occasion
loss to the revenue, without, in any material degree diminish-
ing the amount of, letters irregularly conveyed, or giving
rise to the growth of new correspondence.
As regards the plan of a low uniform rate, payable in ad-
vance, and to be collected by means of stamps, the principal
points established in evidence are—
The fact that this plan in the case of newspapers is now in
full operation, and was retained in the year 1836 expressly on
.the ground of? its superior convenience as a mode of collecting
postage.
The fact that this plan, so far as uniformity of rate and
pre-payment are concerned, is already in operation in the
case of the letters of soldiers and sailors, and is considered
by them as a highly valuable privilege.
The fact that so far as uniformity of rating is concerned,
this plan is in operation in the case of ship letters, which are
transmitted for the rate of 4d. from one extremity of the
kingdom to the other.
And as matter of inference from fact, and of opinion,
That the principle of a low uniform rate is just in itself,
and when combined with pre-payment, and collection by
means of a stamp, would be exceedingly convenient, and
highly satisfactory to the public.
That the effect of the adoption of Mr. Hill's plan on the
details of the management of the Post-office department
would be, to use the words of Sir Edward Lees, secretary
to the Post-office at Edinburgh [Appendix to Report 2, p.
35] ;" that considerable time would be saved in the delivery
of letters ; the expenses in almost every branch of the de-
partment, but principally in the inland and letter-carrier
offices, much reduced ; the complex accounts of the by and
dead-letter offices greatly simplified, and the expences greatly
diminished. That the system of accounts between the depu-
ty post-masters,which presents so many opportunities and
facilities for combination and fraud, would disappear ; the
labour and responsibility of surveyors be curtailed ; a system
of complex and intricate duty, inseparable from the :existing
nature of the country part of the Post-office, give way to one
of simplicity and uniformity ; and the entire principle and
machinery of the Post-office be changed in its character,
greatly contributing to the security, comfort, and advantage,
of the community in its connexion with the public correspon-
dence."
That in the opinion of all the witnesses, excepting most of
the officers of the Post-office, the adoption of Mr. Hill's
plan would occasion a very great increase in the number of
letters posted, and in the opinion of most of them, a far
greater increase than would be required to maintain the reve-
nue at its present amount.
On the foregoing premises, your committee have come to
the conclusions which they have already stated ; and it only
now remains for them to mention what they consider to be
due in justice to Mr. Hill, and throughout the whole of their
laborious and protracted investigation he evinced the utmost
readiness and anxiety to explain to your committee all the
principles and details of his plan.
August 13, 1838.

YANKEE CRITICISM.—In the critical notice of a Boston
(United States) review, the following improvement was sug-
gested :—" The volume contains six articles, and would-have
been improved, we think, if some half dozen of them had
been struck out."

AgAming iatttniyntt.

FRIDAY, MARCH B.—Wind N.N.E.

ARRIVED.—Jeff Jennings, Dale, from Amsterdam.
SAILED —Euterpe, Cumming, for Hayti—Sir William Curtis,
Doyle, for Terceira—Norman, Wood, and Europe, Gourley, for
New York.
John Cumming, —, from Savannah—and Medora,
from Charleston, off this port
Highfield, Brown, for Africa, has pnt back, the crew having re-
fused to proceed
Castilian Maid, Scott, from St. Michael's, at this port. In lat.
46, long. 14, passed a great quantity of timber and plank, apparently
not long in the water. On the sth, 50 miles S.W. of Tuskar, spoke
the Ellen German, hence for Lisbon
Richard, —, from Calcutta for Bristol, off Kinsale
Marnhull, Woodyer, from Leghorn, at the Cove
Elizabeth, Brown, from Mobile, off ditto, saw a field of ice in lat.
44, long. 49
Mary, Hunter, hence for Calcutta, off the Cove 6th instant, re-
ported to be leaky, and crew in a state of mutiny
Royal Sovereign, , from Smyrna for Dublin, & Mayflower,
—, from Lisbon for this port, off the Smalls sth ipstant
Zeno, Mossop, hence for Jamaica, was spoken in lat. 45, long. 12
Thomas Mellor, , hence at Pernambuco Bth Jan.
Bahiana, (steamer) hence at ditto in 32 days, at sea only 23
The December packet arrived at ditto 16th Jan.
Collingwood, Downes, from Calcutta at St. Helena ; and sailed
from Genoa for this port 22d Feb.
Lama, Casely, and Waterlily, Liggett, hence at Lisbon
Reindeer, Watts, sailed from Lisbon on the 27th Feb. Mary,
M'Kenzie, and Rowena, Binck, 28th Feb. all for this port
In de Dama, Rutot, hence at Gironde
Standard, Peile, from Demerara, off Kinsale ; sailed 17th Jan.
On the 2d March in lat. 49, long. 12, and spoke the Sackville from
Constantinople to Cork. On the 4th, off Cape Clear, spoke the
Strathmore hence to Marseilles and Quebec, and the Liverpool for
St. John, N.B.
GENOA, 28th Feb.—About twenty vessels, (English, Austrians,
Greeks, and Turks,) are reported to have been wrecked along the
channel, near Zacchi Binnichi
DANZIG, 26th Feb.—The Eva Lanrost, —, sailed hence 23d
instant, for Lubec, got on shore on the reef at Nardergate, but came
off and into this port yesterday, after discharging part of her cargo

SATURDAY, MAIrCH 9.—Wind S.E. moderate.
SAlLED.—Alexander Adams, Davies, for St. Michael's—Cheshire
Witch, Davidson, for Antigua—and Maria Catherina, Scaefer, for
Antwerp.
Richard, Cunningham, from Calcutta for Bristol, at the Cove
Isabella Cooper, , from Calcutta for this port, off Cape
Clear
Blakely. , from Calcutta for this port, off Clonakilty
Berwick-upon-Tweed, Stebbins, hence at Odessa
Cornelius, Betts, hence at Venice
Sally, Heughan ; Fife, Dare , and John Joseph, Coates, sailed
from Bayonne, for Liverpool, Ist March
Schems, Constean, sailed from Bourdeaux for this port 2nd March
Sir Colin Campbell, Wade, hence at Charente
Jackson. Jackson, from Jamaica for this port, at Waterford

SUNDAY, MARCII 10.—Wind light and variable