The proposal for gratuity of transit was advanced with a view to simplification of the administration of the Union. Its adoption would have made all countries independent, so far as expenses and accounting were concerned, of intermediate countries, and would have assisted the adoption of a low
rate of postage. It was, however, resolutely opposed by those countries which, owing to their geographical situation and the means of communication which they controlled, were called upon to serve as intermediaries to a special degree. The case of Belgium was of particular importance. It naturally resulted from her situation that she was called upon to perform for other countries a transit business much greater than that performed by other countries for Belgium. The net revenue accruing to the Belgian administration from this source was very considerable.[583] France and Italy were in a somewhat similar position, mainly owing to the transmission of the mails between England and India by the overland route. France rejected entirely the principle of gratuitous transit.
It was feared that if an administration derived no benefit from transit traffic it might be led to discourage it, to the detriment of general facilities for the transmission of mails, and the Congress arrived at the conclusion that some method of specially remunerating all countries for transit services ought to be devised. A simple reservation as regards special expenses caused by transit traffic was objected to on the ground that in most cases the international traffic was forwarded by the ordinary means and no special expense was caused—the real causes of Post Office expenses being the services of despatch and delivery.[584] Indeed, it was contended on this ground that the transit of international mails could not be regarded as a service rendered.
Agreement was reached on most of the points raised by the proposals, and a Convention constituting an International Postal Union, under the title "L'Union générale des Postes,"[585]
was signed on the 9th October 1874, to become operative on the 1st July 1875. The chief provisions of the Convention in regard to the rates of postage were as follows:—
(1) The rate of postage for the Union was fixed—
(a) At 25 centimes for single letters, with liberty for each country, as might be necessary on account of its monetary system or for other reasons, to fix a higher or lower rate, provided that such rate was not greater than 32 centimes, and not less than 20 centimes.
The unit of weight for a single letter was fixed at 15 grammes, and the scale of progression was by steps of 15 grammes.
(b) For postcards, half the rate for letters.
(c) For printed matter, samples, and commercial papers the unit rate was fixed at 7 centimes, with liberty for each country to fix a rate not exceeding 11 centimes or less than 5 centimes.