Note 518 — IV MINOR RATES

"We find that in France, and generally on the Continent, the circulation of Prices Current, at a low charge, is encouraged by the Government, and we are of opinion that any facility which can be given for the transmission of mercantile information must tend to promote the commercial interests of the country; we therefore beg to recommend to your Lordships, in the first place, that English Prices Current, and Publications of a similar nature published in this country, be permitted to pass through the medium of the Post Office without the imposition of a charge so high as to impede their general circulation.... We hope ... your Lordships may find it practicable to permit the free transmission of Prices Current by post, if printed on paper bearing a halfpenny stamp."—Fifth Report of Commissioners (11th April 1836), pp. 3, 4.