In 1866 the question was raised in the House of Commons whether the Post Office charge could be reduced, especially in view of the fact that railway companies were distributing newspapers at a uniform rate of ½d. a copy. In 1869 the question was again raised in Parliament. A resolution was moved in favour of an inland rate of ½d. for 2 ounces on printed matter, and a postage of ½d. on newspapers. It was urged that the concession would be of special value in rural districts: it would indeed "be hard to say what the effect might be in time on the social condition of the people."
In several continental countries newspapers were already transmissible by post at very low rates. Against the possible objection that by introducing a rate lower than the 1d. rate they were jeopardizing its maintenance for letters, and that the proposal might therefore lead to a general ½d. rate, it was argued that so far from that being the case, the best way of ensuring the permanence of the 1d. rate was to grant the concession asked.[301]
The Marquess of Hartington, the Postmaster-General, was unable to accept the motion because he thought such proposals, before being assented to by the House, should be thoroughly looked into to discover whether there was a reasonable probability that the loss of revenue would or would not be a permanent loss, and the Post Office should be given ample time to consider whether the additional duties which would be thrown upon it could be undertaken with due regard to other services, which were of greater importance than the transmission of circulars or newspapers. The influx of a largely increased number of circulars and newspapers would cause serious embarrassment in the practical working of the Post Office, and might impair the efficiency of the service in respect of letters. The primary business of the Post Office being the "rapid and punctual transmission of letters," such a result would give just cause for dissatisfaction.
The Marquess of Hartington asked that the motion should not be pressed. The Chancellor of the Exchequer told the House that he had not got £300,000 to give away. Mr. Gladstone also emphasized the seriousness of the financial aspect of the proposals, and assured the House that the Government honestly intended to investigate the question, however much their suggestion for deferring a vote upon it might look like a pretext for evading it altogether. But when the Chancellor of the Exchequer moved the previous question, the motion was lost by a large majority. A main contention of the advocates of the reduction of rate was that in many
foreign countries—in France, in Belgium, in Switzerland, in the United States—extremely low rates of postage for newspapers were in operation, and what was possible in those countries ought to be possible in England.
Following this vote in the House of Commons the matter was further considered at the Post Office, and in the next session an Act was passed providing that any newspaper conforming to certain conditions, the chief of which were that it should be issued at intervals of not more than seven days and should consist wholly or in great part of political or other news or of articles relating thereto or to other current topics, should be entitled to transmission by post at the rate of ½d. per copy irrespective of weight. The privilege of retransmission was withdrawn.[302]
The statutory basis of the newspaper post has remained unchanged since 1870, and the provisions of the Act of 1870 were included in the Post Office Act of 1908, which contains the present authority for the privilege. There has been some necessary interpretation by the Post Office of the definition of a newspaper as given in the Act. The chief points on which difficulty has arisen are (1) as to the amount of news-matter required in a publication, and (2) as to the character of the matter which can be accepted as news-matter. The Act provides that the publication should consist "wholly or in great part of political or other news or of articles relating thereto, or to other current topics." This
requirement is considered to be satisfied if as much as one-third of the publication consists of matter accepted as news. The proportion, when fixed, was based on an examination of the proportion of news-matter contained in the average newspaper, and represents the actual proportion then generally met with. There is no provision regarding the proportion to be maintained between the size of a newspaper within the meaning of the Act and its supplement, but, under the accepted interpretation of the statute, a newspaper may contain a supplement of equal size, and that supplement may consist wholly of advertisements. The result of this is that publications containing a proportion of only one-sixth of news-matter may pass at the newspaper rate of postage. As to the second requirement, a strict interpretation of the regulation is not insisted on, and, in general, articles, pictures, or drawings relating to any matters of current or topical interest are accepted.
This lack of precision in the provisions of the Act, and the consequent difficulty of framing or enforcing regulations restricting the privilege within even reasonable limits, have been largely taken advantage of, especially in recent years, by the publishers of trade and fashion papers, with the result that publications weighing in some cases as much as 3 pounds are sent through the post at the usual newspaper rate of a halfpenny. Nor are the enormous weight of these papers, and the large proportion of advertisement matter, the only objections. The news-matter on which they rely as entitling them to the newspaper privilege is often of the most doubtful character, consisting largely of accounts of shop sales or of commercial exhibitions, with lengthy descriptions of the articles displayed.
This abuse of the privilege is, however, confined to a comparatively small proportion of the newspapers entitled to transmission at the newspaper rate. With the fall in the price of paper, and the improvements in printing methods and machinery, all newspapers have tended to increase in size. But in general the increase has been small. In 1855 the average weight of newspapers passing by post was 3·1 ounces,[303] and in 1913 it had increased to 4·1 ounces. The number of papers entitled to the privilege which could be regarded as