Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1880-08-12
New Plan for small Rsmittances

New Plan for small Remittances.
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The satisfaction with which the with
drawal of fractional currency in paper
was greeted, "a few years ago, was mea-
surately temper ed by regrets for the loss
of a convenient means tor remitting
small sums. Fer such purpose coin is
not at all suitable, and postal-cards are
ut once inconvenienG and relatively
very costly for small amounts. Pos
tage stamps of the larger denominations
might answer the purpose imperfectly,
if they were exchangeable for stamps
Of smaller value, as il Is this method of
remithng usually subjects the receiver
TO inconvenience, If not actual loss,
since few people can make use of the
larger stamps in any considerable guam
tity. Several more or less clever de-
vices for overcoming the difficulty have
been suggested by correspondents of
different papers, but none seem to have
received the appreciation of the postal
authorities. Possibly something more
may come from the plan proposed by
MI. .Chetwynd, receiver and accountant
general to the British post-offlce. 1t
appears from late report of the postal
department that large part of the
l7,000, 900 money orders issued in the
year ending March, 1879, were issued
for sums for which commission was
less than three pence; and on all such
orders there was an absolute loss to
the department, thus compelling re-
adjustment of the rates. With the
withdrawal Of the lower rates, the
money order ceased to be economical
TO remitters of small sums, and some
other cheap and convenient remitting
service was urgently called for. Ac-
cordingly, Mr.. Chetwynd, who for
more than forty years has taken a pro-
minent part in the improvement of the
postal service and is particularly known
as the author and Joint organizer of
the system of government savings
banks so successful in England, has
suggested system of post-office notes.
AS described by the author Of the Sys-
tenn, the new note is designed to COM
bine the simplicity of postage stamp
as the subject of az accoRnt, with the
advantages of a small bank post-bill,
a circular note, and check issued by
what may be called government bank,
and payable at any one of the five
thousand Government banks through
out the United Kingdom to the order
of any person named by the purchaser
OF the note in writing on the back of it.
To begin with, it is proposed to issue
four classes of these notes-namely,f for
IS, 3d., 5s., los. and 20s.-at Id. COM
mission for the former two, and I'd. the
latter two amounts, and it is The in
tention OF the post-office to issue them
in books for use as required, as we'll as
singly. These notes will differ in
character from our abandoned postal or
fractional currency in several particu-
lars. They will not be legal tender,
and will be limited in their period of
currency. Besides, though in the first
instance an open note payable to the
bearer on demand "a note may be crossed
at once, giving it the security of
check similarly dealt with, or it may
be localized III the same manner as the
money order, by the simple insertion
of a particular post-offfce, at which
alone it will then be payable; while
the mention of the payee's name adds
further security to the note. But,
whether open or otherwise, the postal
note will require to be indorsed by the
bearer before it will be cashed, so that
any fraudulent attempt to get payment
of it will thus involve forgery, and be
subject to heavy penalties. A bill TO
Introduce this system was brought be-
fore Parliament just before the recent
dissolution; and the scheme will doubt
less be brought up again at an early
date.