"Q. 1913: The plan is so far under consideration, and, perhaps, these difficulties may be got over?—I cannot hold out any expectation of that; I think I have considered it sufficiently to see that those difficulties are all but insuperable."—Evidence of Sir Rowland Hill, Report from Select Committee on Newspaper Stamps, 18th July 1851.
[298] "He believed it would be admitted that there was no wish to make revenue out of this carriage of newspapers; but, on the other hand, the newspaper interest had no right to ask that their productions should be carried at less than cost price. It should be as near as possible an equal bargain between the parties, by which neither the revenue on the one hand, nor the newspapers on the other, should gain.... He believed it was the opinion of the Post Office that a halfpenny would not be sufficient to cover the expenses of transmission."—Lord Stanley, 23rd April 1855; Parl. Debates (Commons), vol. cxxxvii. col. 1664.
[299] The duty was reduced to 1d. upon a sheet containing a superficies not exceeding 2,295 inches.
[301] "Another objection might be urged that, by once touching the permanency of the 1d. rate they were endangering its stability, and that if the edge of the wedge were once inserted it might lead to the uniform rate of ½d. He shared no such apprehension, and believed that the wisest way to maintain the permanency of the 1d. rate was to remove the cause of the agitation."—Mr. Graves, 6th April 1869; Parl. Debates (Commons), vol. cxcv. col. 241.
[302] "A newspaper with an impressed stamp circulates free for fifteen days. It is the last relic of the old taxes on knowledge. The law is complicated and leads to fraud by the abuse of free transmission. An unstamped newspaper now goes at the rate of 1d. for every 4 ounces, and every fraction of 4 ounces. About 35,000,000 newspapers pass through the Post Office annually with an impressed stamp, and about the same number without. What we propose to do is to abolish the impressed stamp altogether, at a loss to the Revenue of £120,000.... Then we propose to carry all newspapers which weigh less than 6 ounces for a ½d. That will be limited to bona fide newspapers; but we propose, instead of 1d. for every 4 ounces and fraction on of 4 ounces, to charge ½d. for every 2 ounces of other printed matter. There will in this way be a loss to the Post Office, over and above that incurred by the abolition of the impressed stamp, of £250,000 a year. There may be besides some additional expense in connection with building and the increase in the number of persons to be employed; but this has not been estimated for, and the amount cannot be very large."—Chancellor of the Exchequer, 11th April 1870; Parl. Debates (Commons), vol. ce. col. 1636. The limitation to 6 ounces was withdrawn. Ibid., vol. cciii, col. 1383.
[303] Parl. Debates (Commons), 7th May 1855, vol. cxxxviii. col. 197.
[304] In 1899 the number of registered newspapers which normally exceeded 8 ounces in weight was 29.
[305] See infra, p. [293]. The size and weight of many of the largo trade papers has decreased in consequence of the war.
[306] "Newspapers and books are carried at a low rate for the sake of the education and general information of the people."—Mr. W. Monsell (Postmaster-General), 14th March 1871; Parl. Debates (Commons), vol. cciv. col. 2014.