Note 468 — IV MINOR RATES

6th April, 1869; Parl. Debates (Commons), vol. cxcv. col. 258.

"The Post Office revenue is derived mainly from the circulation of letters which pay 1d. for half an ounce, and if they exceed half an ounce, another 1d. The writers of those letters are not necessarily rich people, or persons to whom the postage is a matter of indifference; they are, in a certain sense, the helots who bear the burden of the expense of the Department. Is it, then, not a question worth considering, whether—supposing we accede to this request and carry 2 ounces of printed matter for a ½d., for the benefit of a particular class of the community—that might not interfere with the possibility of maintaining the 1d. postage on letters?"—Chancellor of Exchequer in House of Commons, 6th April 1869; Parl. Debates (Commons), vol. cxcv. col. 254.