General Post Office, 27th April, 1852. My Lords, — My predecessor, in a letter dated the 9th September, 1850, brought under the consideration of your Lordships' Board, the importance of establishing uniform rates of postage upon letters, newspapers, books, and Parliamentary proceedings, transmitted ei her by packet or private ship between the United Kingdom and all British Colonies, and of combining in such uniform rates the total charge, Imperial and Colonial, to destination, by which means it ivas proposed to afford to the public the option of paying the whole of the postage (as regards letters) in advance, ei her in this conntry or in the colony, or of forwarding the letters unpaid. As a preliminary measure, letters were addressed by the Treasury to the Secretary of State for the Colonies and to the Secretary of the India Board, acquainting tliem with the proposition which had been made by the Postmaster-General, and requesting that the necessary information relative to the rates charged in the several Colonies and in the East Indies, on letters, Bfc., might be furnished. The required information has, up to the present time, been received from Heligoland, the Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon, Labuan, South Australia, Van Diemen's Land, New South Wales, St. Helena, and Sierra Leone, and although there remain several Colonies from which no reports have yet been received, there nevertheless appears sufficient information to serve as the basis of a general measure for the Crown Colonies, leaving the East Indies to be dealt with when the requisite particulars are supplied. The information gathered from the reports made by the several Colonies confirms the impression of my predecessor, that in no other instance than that of ♦ Heligoland (which was proposed to be exempted from the arrangement in respect to the amount o! its rate), the establishment of a shilling rate would raise the present total churge, while there are comparatively but few cases in which such arrangement would materially lower the charge. 1 he most stiiking of these cases is that of Ceylon, where it appears that, even by letters conveyed direct from this country by British contract packets, and consequently without any expense to the Colonial Government, a sea rate of Is. is nevertheless added at the Colonial Post Office, which just doubles the cost to the public, thus raising a great obstacle to correspondence, and injuring the home revenue; a state of things showing the necessity for some arrangement such as that proposed by my predecessor. J here appears every reason, therefore, for carrying out the measure recommended l)y the Marquess of Clanricarde's letter of the 9th J»eptember, 1850, at least so f..r as relates to the Crown Colonies ; immediate effect being given to the measure in all Colonies whose postal arrangements are under my control, and negotiations being forthwith commenced as regards the others. "1 he original proposition consisted in fixing the uniform rate of postage at the amount already charged in most cases, viz-, Is. the half-ounce, with the present scale of advance, the same to free the letter to its place of destination, and to be pre-paid at the option of the sender. Of this shilling it was proposed that, as in the case of Canada, -2d. should be assigned to the Colonial Post Office as its inland rate, the remaining lOd. being assigned to the British office as its inland rate and sea postage combined. Of course to this uniform rate addition would have to be made, as at present, when the letter should be subjected to a foreign transit postage, as in the case of letters to the East Indies via Marseilles, and to Canada via the United btates. It would remain to deal with the division of the rate of letters conveyed by ships, as also with newspapers and Parliamentary Proceedings. Where letters are conveyed by ship, the Colony is of course entitled to a larger share of Postage, and I should recommend that the Is. rate be equally divided between the Home Government and the Colony, an arrangement somewhat more favourable to the Colonies than that which now exists Newspapers are conveyed at rates which vary considerably. In many case, they pass entirely free of charge ; in others, a charge (generally of Id. each) is made either in this country or in the Colony; but lam not aware of any case in which a newspaper is charged ,n both. In this country the rule is to cbarge nothing ,f the newspaper be carried by packet, and ]d,if by private ship. In the Colonies the practice is exceedingly variable.