It may be noted, in justification of the view sometimes advanced that additional traffic can without loss be undertaken by the Post Office at rates lower than those for the main services, that in this case the Post Office anticipated that no direct additional expense would be incurred in the provinces in dealing with the increase of traffic, and that in London the additional expense would only amount to some £500 a year.
[507] Arrête of 4th March 1858. In 1881 these limits were raised slightly—to 350 grammes and to 30 centimetres respectively.
[508] In 1871 the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de l'Est filed a petition in which they contested the right of the Post Office to send samples of merchandise by railway without specially remunerating the railway company. They claimed that under the law they were obliged to carry free only "letters" and "despatches." The case was, however, decided against the company.—P. Jaccottey, op. cit., p. 334.
[509] Ibid., p. 333.
[510] Statistique générale du service postal, Berne, 1914, p. 7.
[511] Archiv für Post und Telegraphie, 1880, p. 270.
[512] Archiv für Post und Telegraphie, 1880, p. 273.
[513] Dr. Artur Schmidt, Finanz-Archiv, 1905, vol. ii., p. 180.
[514] 9 Anne, cap. 10, § 13.