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4

Then, in New Zealand the increased expenditure involved in handling the larger amount of mail-matter was comparatively slight. It was estimated not to exceed 5 per cent., and this was found to be well within the mark. By way of contrast, I may here remark that the year before the inauguration of penny postage the increase in the number of paid letters over the preceding year was 570,492, or an increase of only 176 per cent. In 1901—2 the postal stamp revenue was 5,813,075 francs (or 232,523 pounds sterling), and in 1904-5 8,159,200 francs (or 326,368 pounds sterling). It will therefore be seen that as between the years 1901-2 and 1904-5, after the introduction of penny postage, the postalstamp revenue increased by 2,346,125 francs (or 93,845 pounds sterling). Now, as an illustration of what a reduction in a rate for a service performed by the Post Office will effect if it goes far enough, I would mention what took place in the telegraph branch of our New Zealand service when a reduction of one-half was made in the rate for inland telegrams. On the Ist June, 1896, a rate of 6d. for twelve words in place of one of Is. for the same number of words was introduced. The year following there was a decrease in the telegraph receipts of 094 per cent.; the second year there was an increase of 473 per cent.■ the third year a further increase of 13*13 per cent. • and the fourth year an increase of 1049 per cent., and the revenue lias gone on increasing ever since. The result eight years after the reduction has been that the revenue shows an increase for the period of 9626 per cent. In these two branches of the service of the country I represent reductions were made in my time as Minister in charge of the Department in both postal and telegraphic rates equal to onehalf, and in a comparatively short period the whole of the revenue was recovered and a credit balance earned as well. Of course, the element of the general trade of a country is an important factor in helping to make a success of a reform of such a widespread character as that of the penny post. I fully recognise that this has to be taken into consideration by every country, but it should not be lost sight of (always remembering the very large amount of the world's business transacted through the Post Office) that the greater the opportunities you give the greater are these opportunities availed of by the public; and, logically, the greater the business the greater is the use made of the Post Office, I am justified in saying that a factor in galvanising business activity in my country was the excellent postal facilities we gave the public, both within and beyond New Zealand. Those who are not immediately concerned, or whose business does not call for examination of the working-out of penny postage, have little idea of what a deterrent the rate beyond the penny is. The public in New Zealand, from the date of the introduction of penny postage, if the old rate had continued and the same number of letters been posted, would have paid for letters posted for places within the colony 10,226,475 francs (or 409,059 pounds sterling) more than they did ; and for letters posted for places beyond the colony they would have expended in postage, if the old rates had continued in force, 691,775 francs (or 27,671 pounds sterling) more than they actually did pay. So also with the sixpenny telegrams, the public would have paid 9,590,775 francs (or 383,631 pounds sterling) more for the same amount of business under the old rates than they did under the reduced ones. I have no hesitation, however, in saying that if the rates had not been reduced the public would not have made the extensive use of the post and telegraph service that they did. The cheapening of the rates, and going far enough in the cheapening, educated the public to make much greater use of the services, and hence the successful results were achieved. I would ask the Congress to consider for a moment what an enormous relief the figures I have quoted represent to the struggling merchant or trader who is endeavouring to build up or extend his business through 1 lie medium of the Post Office. Then, again, apart from New Zealand, what has been the experience of Canada? Canada established penny postage within the Canadian Dominion in 1898, and in a few years recovered the whole of the revenue and had a surplus. I shall not trespass on the domain of Canada, as its representative is here, and doubtless may desire to express his own opinion so far as relates to his country. I may say, however, that a former Canadian Postmaster-General, Sir William Mulock, whom I met in Melbourne at the opening of the Federal Parliament of Australia, was as pronounced as I am, and held as strong views, that the postage-reduction in Canada gave an enormous incentive to people to make greater use of the Post Office. He had, at the initiation of this reform, unhesitatingly declared that the whole of the revenue would be recovered within a few years, as I iiad similarly anticipated would be the outcome in New Zealand. In both cases the results showed an extraordinary similarity, which I am justified in affirming makes the financial question of penny post not one of doubt, but one of reasonable certainty. We further have the experience of Egypt, which, under the direction of its enterprising Post-master-General, Saba Pasha, established penny post, and, as in the case of New Zealand and Canada, immediately had a very large increase in the number of letters posted. I shall not, of course, go into details as to Egypt: I leave that for its capable delegate. I therefore express the hope that the experiences to which I have briefly referred may inspire the delegates with a friendly feeling towards the proposal I am submitting to them. It should not be forgotten that my country is one of small population. At the time this reform was instituted it contained, as I have stated, only some 800,000 people, and the population of Canada at the time of the introduction of penny post would be between four and five millions. The experiment was, therefore, in both instances carried out by countries not thickly peopled, and the recuperative power of a limited number of people to restore in a few years a reduction of one-half in revenue must, assuredly, be recognised to be less than that of a thickly populated country. The aggregate reduction in revenue in a thickly populated country would be proportionately higher, but any business man will confirm my declaration that he would prefer to carry on trade, if he desired to materially increase the volume of his business, in a thickly peopled area rather than in a sparsely settled one. The natural misgivings that present themselves to those who are dealing with a proposition of this kind can, I think, be moderated by a reference to those