THE OTGAO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, JANUARY 9,1925. GREAT BRITAIN AND PENNY POSTAGE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19374, 9 January 1925, Page 4

THE OTGAO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, JANUARY 9,1925. GREAT BRITAIN AND PENNY POSTAGE.

No little disappointment will bo felt by tlio British public if it be the case, as stated in one of tho Home papers, that Mr Winston Churchill, Chancellor of the Exchequer, has decided against penny postage on the ground that it would involve an unjustifiable sacrifice of revenue. Business men throughout the country have .been expressing through tho Chambers of Commerce a strong opinion in favour of an immediate restoration of the penny post. The attention of candidates at tho recent general election was directed to the subject by the London Chamber and by the Association of Chambers of Commerce. It was pointed out that for tho last two years tho surplus arising from tho postal services, apart from the telegraph and telephone, had ex-" ceeded £5,000,000 ; that the number of letters passed through the Post Office in 1923 was considerably less than in the last pre-war year in which there was penny postage, and that before a return could be made to the Imperial penny post it was necessary that the inland penny post should be restored in Great Britain. At a meeting of the Sheffield and Leicester Chambers of Commerce it was affirmed that the New Zealand Postmaster-General had stated that the reduction in postal rates had brought about greatly increased trade. At the annual meeting of the Rowland Hill Memorial and Benevolent Fund held at tho Mansion House, London, the question of the reintroduction of penny postage was the principal theme of discussion. Lord Southwark mentioned tho strong objection raised by business men against tho application of the Post Office surplus in tho previous year to the reduction of tho entertainment tax, and tho emphatic opinion expressed by tho Irondon Chamber that penny postage would stimulate trade, •add greatly to tho revenue, and reduce the heavy charges at present borne by the nation in regard to unemployment. He suggested that there would bo no more acceptable Now Year’s gift for the country and tho Empire than a return to universal penny postage. A table indicating the number of letters carried in specified years, with the rate in force, shows some interesting variations: Year, Rato. Letters carried. 1913-14 - _ Id 3,477,800,000 19211922- - ... lid 3,248,000,000 Tho figures bear out the argument that a higher postage rate means a reduced volume of postal business. Very prominent among the advocates of a restoration of tho penny post has been Lord Biyth. In a letter to Tho Times he urged that whatever measure might be introduced by Mr Baldwin’s Government for the welfare of tho country whether for increasing trade or reducing unemployment would bo far morn efficacious if the penny post were in operation. It was in 1810 that tho “bold stop,” as it was then .considered, was taken by which the penny post was established in England, and a great lead thus given to the civilised world. To quote from another utterance by Lord Biyth: Tho experiment was regarded as a gigantic leap in tho dark by almost all tho official minds, ami it was really only by tho forcoful advocacy of men of large vision, such as Rowland Hill and other outstanding statesmen of that period, who were, confident of (he ultimate success of encouraging a vast acceleration of correspondence among tho masses of (ho people as well as throughout the commercial community, that tho measure became law in tho tooth virulent and persistent opposition, for it could not. be gainsaid that thoro would be a deficit for (ho first year or two. With the experience, however, of three-quarters of a century of ever-increasing postal revenue and commercial prosperity, largely traceable to our cheap postage, and no doubt also to tho expansion of our mercantile marine and our groat railway system, it is almost incredible that statesmen of all parties should, for years past, have been so lacking in foresight—not. to say wanting in courage—as to have permitted tho continuance during so many years of the crippling imposts that were saddled o n the public during the exceptional war years. Lord Biyth could hardly have expressed his own belief in the importance of the restoration of penny postage more strongly than he does in the following passage:—“lb is difficult to estimate and hardly possible to exaggerate what tho result would have been in the growth of onr trade and industry had we been in possession of the pre-war cheap postage during the last 10 years. There can ho no doubt, however, that the whole business of the country would have been greatly accelerated by the stimulus of a penny post, and it is not too much to say that tho nation’s wealth would thereby have been increased to the extent orf at least a hundred millions a year, which in the last 10 years that have elapsed would have equalised our payment of the thousand millions to America.” However, the New Year’s gift that would have been so acceptable has not yet materialised. It has not transpired whether the new Postmaster-General has yet made a recommendation to the Cabinet on tho subject. Mr Churchill is credited with definitely stating during his election campaign that he was in favour of a return to penny postage. The official argument is that to reintroduce tho penny post would cost £5,000,000, and tho question is whether that amount can be made good. The experience of Now Zealand, where the penny post was reintroduced in October, 1923, has been freely cited as an argument reinforcing the conclusion that the time has arrived when a return to the penny post might safely be made in the case of Great Britain.