The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1893-11-11
ENGLANVS PARCEL POST,
A System That Has Grown with
Amazing Rapidity.
What Was an Unknown Convenience Tex
Years Ago Is Now an Almost In
dispensable Adjunct TO
Daily Life.

was passed in 1882. But it may well be
imagined that time was necessary to
mount an entirely new postal service
without disorganizing the ordinary
mails, and it was not until August /,
1883, that the post was actually placed
at the disposal of the public, says the
London Times 5..
May l, 1886, new scale of weights
and charges was issued. The scale,
which still obtains, assembled by
single instead of double pounds, and
thus represented a charge of Sd for the
| first pound and 115d for each sue
ceeding pound. At the same time the
| maximum weight was raised to eleven
pounds, a parcel Of that weight being
carried for lsd. Compensation was
| promised for the loss or damage of any
parcel in the post up to the sum of 81,
while further sums of e5 and $40 might
be secured by the payment of l penny
and I'd respectively.
The original scale of weights and
charges was for parcel not exceed
| ing one pound, Sd; up to three pounds,
sd; up to five pounds. Cd. and up to
seven pounds. is At seven pounds the
post stopped, The maximum dimen-
sions allowed were three and one-half
feet in length and six feet in length
and girth combined, and these dimen-
sions have been found throughout to
be sufficient to meet the public demand.
! The effect of these changes at once
became visible. From June, 1886, on
| ,,lc f1o 1xn ~ o1c
by more than twenty per cent. over the
number for the corresponding months
of the previous year, and the total
number of parcels carried in the year
1886 rose to 31,000,0o0. In the mean
| time parcel posts had been established
with many colonies and foreign states.
The admirably managed post Office OF
( india and the post Office of Egypt Tor
ganized by the country were the first
to respond to the invitation of the
postmaster general, and the inter
change Of parcels with India, Burmah,
Alden and Egypt commenced July l.,
1885.
! At the end of another six months
Germany and Belgium, forerunners of
this country in parcel post enterprise,
had entered in similar relations, and
from the commencement of 1886 the
work of connecting this country with
the rest of the world for the purpose
of interchanging parcels by post pro-
ceeded apace.
The next change of Importance took
place June /. 1881, when the system OF
registration was for the first time ex-
tended to inland parcels, together with
| conversation on liberal scale. For
the ordinary registration, a fee of I'd,
while for every additional Id another
! Is could be secured mp to maximum
| of e25 At the same time the conpen-
sation payable on an unregistered par
eel was raised from FL to 92. Finally,
| December last, scale of payment
rising to $50 (Which had previously
been applied to the post to India and
| the West Indies) was adopted: and it is
now possible to obtain compensa ton
up to that amount by payment of the
! registration fee Of I'd and additional
fee of Cd. or lid in all 1t is not sur
| prising that under the influence OF
| these improvements the number OF
parcels sent per head of the popuia.
ton has more than doubled since the
post was instituted.
So completely has the parcel post
now become an adjunct Of daily life
| that it is almost difficult TO realize
that ten years ago anyone wishing to
send parcel. even between two cen,
ters of population. had no certainty
when it would he dispatched, when it
! would be delivered, and how much he
would have to pay; while rural districts
were, for such purposes. practically out