AUSTRALIAN POSTAGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19658, 9 June 1927, Page 11

AUSTRALIAN POSTAGE.

PENNY RATE NOT FEASIBLE. LOSS TO REVENUE TOO HEAVY. (Received June 8, 7.55 p.m.) A. and N.Z. MELBOURNE. Juno 8. The Postmaster-General, Mr. Gibson, referring to the financial position of' the Postal Department, said that while the department was just about balancing its ledger, he thought it would be a grave mistake to give effect to a reduction in the postage rate to one penny. To do this would involve a loss of £1,100.000. There was very clear evidence that a reduction in postal rates did not increase the number of letters posted. Mr. Gibson said he expected that in the next financial year the receipts of his department from all sources would be about £1.000,000 a month. Commenting on Mr. Gibson's remarks, Sir Joseph Ward, of New Zealand, said the fear Mr. Gibson expressed, that a return to penny postage would mean a reductiou of revenue, was not justified by the experience of England. Canada and New Zealand. In New Zealand, Sir Joseph said, the general opinion was that penny postage would mean a loss to the revenue. But within two years of its adoption the revenue had increased so much that it made up for any initial reduction. Similar conditions were experienced when it was reintroduced after its abolition as a war measure.