rate.[493] The contention of the merchants was that the enclosure of a pattern or sample did not convert a single letter into a double letter, and that to constitute a double letter there must be a second sheet of paper—a contention which is sound enough if postage be regarded as a tax on communications and not as a mere charge for the conveyance of a packet. At Bristol, Manchester, and Gloucester, legal proceedings were taken against local postmasters for demanding and receiving more than the legal postage. In each case a special verdict, in almost identical terms, was given, and the Postmasters-General were advised by the Attorney-General that the decision was likely to go against the Crown if they brought up one of the verdicts for argument. In their difficulty they resorted to Parliament, and obtained specific statutory authority for an additional charge in respect of patterns and samples.[494]
This state of affairs continued until 1795, when samples were given a definite statutory privilege. Under an Act of that year it was provided that a packet of patterns or samples might pass as a single letter on condition that it did not exceed 1 ounce in weight, that it was open at the sides, and that it contained no writing other than the name and address of the sender and the price.[495] This privilege was continued by the Act of 1801.[496] In 1805 an additional penny was charged on all such packets.[497] In 1812 a further addition to the postage was made, viz. an addition of 2d. for every "letter, packet, or cover not exceeding an ounce in weight" and containing a pattern or sample, if "closed or not open at the sides," or an addition of 1d. if
open at the sides.[498] By the consolidating Act of 1837 it was provided that packets or covers containing patterns or samples and not exceeding an ounce in weight, if open at the sides and without any "letter or writing in, upon, or within such packet or cover," other than the name and address of the sender and the price, should be charged as single letters, but "letters not open at the sides containing patterns or samples and not exceeding 1 ounce in weight" were to be charged as double letters.[499] In 1839 the Treasury were empowered to fix rates of postage for all letters by weight,[500] and in 1840 rates of postage, charged according to weight alone, "without reference to the number of sheets or pieces of paper, or enclosures," were legalized.[501] This Act contained no special provision in respect of packets containing samples or patterns.
On the 1st October 1863, with the declared object of benefiting trade and commerce by affording facilities for the cheap transmission of bona fide trade patterns and samples of merchandise throughout the country, an "Inland Pattern and Sample Post" was established. Since the Post Office, and the Post Office alone, had the means of conveying such articles at a moderate rate of charge to and from all parts of the country, including even the most remote, it was thought some special concession ought to be made. The privilege was, however, restricted within narrow limits, as it was feared that a large increase in the number of moderately heavy packets would impede the work of the Post Office. It would, moreover, seriously affect the amount of the payments to railway companies for the conveyance of mails, a matter of grave anxiety to the Post Office at that time.[502] The privilege was therefore restricted to genuine samples, and no article of intrinsic value might be sent at the reduced rate.
The original rates were:—
| Under | 4 | ounces | 3d. |
| " | 8 | " | 6d. |
| " | 16 | " | 1s. 0d. |
| " | 24 | " | 1s. 6d. |
The computations of the financial effects of the rates were made—as was usual in such cases—by estimating the effect on the gross revenue, taking into account the probable increase in the number of packets, and estimating also what additional expense would be incurred in dealing with the additional traffic.[503] The main financial principle seems to have been that as the letter rate was enormously profitable, a reduced rate for a comparatively small volume of traffic could be given without involving actual loss, and without any serious result on the net revenue.
In 1864 the rates were reduced by one-third. In 1865 the exclusion of articles of intrinsic value was abandoned; but there was no relaxation of the essential condition that the articles must be bona fide samples. In 1866 there was a further slight modification of the rates. The number of packets sent at the privileged rate increased from half a million in 1864 to a million in 1865, and by 1868 the number had reached three millions.
The facilities afforded by this post were taken advantage of to a large extent for the forwarding of small packets of goods on sale or in execution of an order. It was estimated that at least half the packets were not genuine samples at all, but contained goods of this kind; and the definite restriction of the post to its original purpose of carrying trade samples and patterns was deemed necessary. This was provided for in the Act of 1870, the rate of postage being at the same time reduced to ½d. for every 2 ounces.