The St. Johns herald., 1895-04-04
ENGLAND'S PARCEL POST.
A System That T g Grown wit
 Ams ziDg E.epidity.
What Was aa Unknown Convenience Ten Hears Ago Is Now aa Almost In- ! dIspen5a5lc EGig3cs 70 Daily Ii~a

The act authorizing the parcel post syas passed in 1882. But t may well b. imagined that tine was necessary l. mount an entirely new Epos4lsservics without di organizing the orliHa-y mails. and it was not until Au-us5 i. 1883. that the post was actually placed ct the disposal of the public, says the London Tines.
 May 1. 1886, new scale Of weight and c,.arGos vas issred. The scale. which still obtains, asceadel- by single instead of double pounds, an thus represented Q cllarga O. 3i for t!lc first poznd and I5Ed for each suc- ceeding pound. At tho same tir1c the maximum weight was raised to eleven pounds, q parcel Of that weight being carried for 1ed. Compensation was promised for the loss or damage Of any parcel in the post up to the su:n Of q. while further suns Of 95 and e1Onight be secared by the payment of l penny and 2d respectively.
 The original scale of weights and charges was for parcel not exceed ing one pound, 3d; up to three pounds. 5d; up to five pounds, 0d, and up to seven pounds, Is. At seven pounds the post stopped. The maximum dimen- sions allowed were three and one-haH feet iii length and six feet in length and girth combined, and these dimen. sions have been found throughout tc be sufficient to meet the public demand.
 The effect of these changes at once became visible. From June. 1886, on wards, the number of parcels increased by more than twenty percent. ovcr the number for the corresponding months of the previous year, and the total number of parcels carried in the year 1880 rose to 31.030.O00. Tn 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 ganizcd by the counfry) were the first to respond to the invitation of the postmaster general, and the inter- change of par reels with India, Burmah, Alden and Egypt commenced July l, 1885.
 At the end of another six monthl Germany and Belgium, forerunncrs oi this country in parcel post enterprise, had entered in similar relations, and from tho commencement of 1886 the work of connecting this country with the rest of the world for the purpose of intcrcaanging parcels by post pro- ceeded apaee.
 The next change of importance took place June 1, 1891, when the system of registration was for the first time cx- tended to inland parcels, together with compensation on 3 liberal scale. For the ordinary registration, fee of 2d, compensation upto 6 was promised, while for every additional Id another s5 could be secured up to maximum of a25. At the same time the compen. sation payable on an unregistered par eel was raised from .1 to @. Finally, December l last, Q scale of payment rising to $50 (which had previously been applied to the post to India and the West Indiesl was adopted: and it is now possible to obtain compensation up to that amount by payment of the registration fec of 2d and additional fee of Sd, or lid in al. It is not sur prising that under the influence ot these improvements the number of parcels sent per head of the popula- tion 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 tc send a parcel, even between two cen. ters Of population, had no certainty when it would be dispatched, when it would be delivered, and how much he would have to pay; while rural districts were, for such purposes, practically out of reach.