PENNY POSTAGE

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 198, 19 May 1936, Page 10

PENNY POSTAGE

Hundred Years Since Its Introduction DOMINION’S IMPORTANT PART The centenary of the penny post which takes place tills year is of particular interest to New Zealand, as it is claimed that this Dominion was the first to introduce the universal penny postage. Tlie penny post, idea was first conceived by Rowland Hill in Great Britain in 1836, and came into general use in 1840. It marked a new era in the conveyance of news, an essential service from the time when swift runners carried messages across Egypt for Pharaoh to the present day, with its intricate postal systems covering the world by road, sea and air. It is a certainty that within tlie not-distant future mails will be carried to tlie four corners of the earth in planes which, flying in the stratosphere, will reduce travelling time to an absolute minimum. Everyone likes to got a letter, and the first thing most private individuals do is to look at the postmark before opening to see where it came from. Whatever thought those with leisure to do so devote before opening their mail to conjecture as to its origin, it is certain they seldom think of the organisation slowly evolved through the centuries which makes it possible to send a. letter across tlie world at trifling cost. In New Zealand last year 135,000,000 letters were posted. In the seventeenth century a onesheet letter (without; envelope) cost, eiglitpenee to send from London to the .Scottish border, London to Ireland ninepence, to Europe a still greater amount. The year before tlie penny post, tne cosh from London to Edinburgh was J/4 i, ami the total annual mail handled was measured in pounds. To-day, on trains, in steamships and in aeroplanes, it is reckoned in thousands of tons.

Rowland Hill argued a century ago that if a small and uniform prepaid charge were made, irrespective of distance, the greater number of letters carried a short distance would more than pay for the long-distance ones, and that tlie increased volume, even at a penny a half-ounce, would greatly increase the revenue and improve the service.

The plan succeeded beyond all expectations, and other countries quickly adopted the idea. Later an international union was formed to co-ordin-ate the service as between nations. Hill introduced another innovation. It was evident, that the penny post, with its greater speed and volume of business, would require better and quicker met'hods. He conceived the idea of printing the stamps in sheets (later they were perforated for easy attachment.) and coating the backs with gum. This was the birth of the adhesive postage stamp as it is known to-day.

When Hill was working out a design for the new stamp, he cast around for mi emblem, and since the young Queen Victoria had been just recently enthroned, he thought nothing quite so appropriate as the Royal bead upon hhe English penny, so the Queen’s head appeared upon tlie stamp. Tlie head of the Sovereign has appeared upon British stamps ever since, and upon issues in the various parts of the Empire. There lias been a variety of designs upon New Zealand stamps. There was the penny universal issue, the ltd- Boer War. tlie map of New Zealand issue io mark tlie reintroduction of tlie penny postage in 1923, the Auckland, Dunedin and Christchurch exhibition Issues, the latest Anzac stamp, as well as others which show native flora and fauna and tourist attractions. it is a New Zealand claim that she was the first to introduce universal penny postage, but this lias been disputed on the ground that not all countries accepted letters from New Zealand at; one penny.

The penny post was first introduced in New Zealand on January 1, 1901, when it was a, penny a half-ounce. There have been fluctuations in the rate owing to war and economic considerations, but it is now back to a penny.

There have been tremendous changes since the introduction of the stamp. Since then mails have been carried into every country of tlie world bj’ locomotive, steamship, motor and aeroplane, to the Arctic by dog-sledge and across the Equator by camel train. The earth has been girdled at the speed of light by telegraph and wireless, and j-esterday’s happenings on the Continent and in Great Britain are reported in to-day’s “Dominion.” People in one hemisphere may speak and listen f o those in another: even the voice of tlie reigning Sovereign is known to all parts of his kingdom. But, changeless in the midst of change, stamps remain as they were a century ago—just stamps but for all that symbols of one of the greatest and most essential services of modern times.

Sir Rowland Hill, F.R.S., K.C.8., D.C.L.. and Freeman of the City of London, whose vision, faith and energy revolutionised tlie handling of mail Wiroughout the world, died in 1879— 15 years after his retirement—and was buried among the great in Westminster Abbey.