With an increase in the number of valuable articles carried by post and better arrangements for their safe keeping, it was found possible to reduce the registration fee from 11d. to 6d., then to 4d. and eventually to 2d. At the time of the first reduction, a rule was issued for the compulsory registration by the Post Office of all letters unquestionably containing coin, for the sake of letter carriers and others rather than the protection of the public. The Post Office did not at the time of the first reduction hold itself responsible for the full value of the contents of a lost registered letter but was accustomed to remunerate the sender where the contents were proved, were of moderate amount, and the fault clearly lay with the Post Office. In 1878 it agreed to make good up to £2 the value of the contents of any registered letter which it lost, stipulating in the case of money that it had been sent securely and in one of its own envelopes. Compulsory registration by the Post Office was also extended to include uncrossed cheques and postal orders to which the name of the payee had not been appended.[682]

An inland parcel post was not established in England until 1883. An initial rate of 3d. was imposed for the first pound, increasing by increments of 3d. to 1s. for the seventh pound. Later the maximum weight was increased to 11 pounds, the maximum charge to 1s. 6d. In 1905 a further reduction followed on parcels weighing more than four pounds.[683]

The use of postcards was first permitted in England in 1870, a charge of a halfpenny a dozen being made in addition to the stamp. In 1875 this additional charge was increased to a penny a dozen for thin cards, 2d. for stout cards. In 1899 these prices were reduced to a penny for ten stout cards, a halfpenny for ten thin ones, and the latter began rapidly to displace the former. Private post cards were first allowed to pass through the post in 1894 for a halfpenny each, and two years later the charge on unpaid inland post cards was reduced from 2d. to a penny.[684] At the same time that the use of post cards was allowed, a half penny post was introduced for certain classes of formal printed documents.[685]

In 1884 the scale of postage applicable to inland letters between two and twelve ounces in weight was continued without limit. The resulting rates were as follows: for the first ounce, one penny; for two ounces, 1½d.; for all greater weights, a halfpenny for every two ounces plus an initial penny. On the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the late Queen's accession to the throne, further decreases were announced in the postage on inland letters. The weight carried by the initial penny was extended from one to four ounces, the postage for heavier letters increasing as before at the rate of a halfpenny for each additional two ounces.[686]

The decrease in postage for inland matter was accompanied by lower rates for colonial and foreign letters. Although the proposal of the Marquis of Clanricarde to establish a definite shilling[687] rate for all colonial letters was not immediately adopted, it was not long before even lower rates were accepted. The Marquis' plan was communicated to the Treasury Lords in 1850 purely on Imperial grounds, "to strengthen the ties between the colonies and the mother country." Rates other than those on letters were even then far from excessive. Newspapers, for instance, often passed free or they were charged a penny each either in England or the colony, but not in both. Parliamentary proceedings paid but one penny, sometimes 2d. per quarter-pound, books 6d. per half-pound. A few years later a 6d. letter rate was adopted for all parts of the Empire except India, the Cape, Mauritius, and Van Diemen's Land. In 1857 the 6d. rate per half-ounce was extended to all the colonies and in 1868 to the United States. In the following year this rate was lowered to 3d. for letters to the United States, Canada and Prince Edward Island.[688] In 1890 this rate in the case of most of the colonies, and some foreign countries, was still further reduced to 2½d., partly no doubt on account of the crusade which Mr. Heaton had undertaken for penny postage within the Empire.[689] In 1898 his penny aspirations were realized for all the important colonies with the exception of the Australasian and South African, and in 1905 these too fell into line and were joined by Egypt and the Soudan.[690] In 1907, the experiment was tried of charging the comparatively nominal sum of one penny a pound on British newspapers, magazines, and trade journals for Canada, duly registered for the purpose, when sent by direct Canadian packet. This rate is less than the cost but the loss is diminished by the fact that the Dominion Government relieves the British Post Office of the whole cost of ocean transit by the Canadian subsidized lines.[691]

In 1863 arrangements were made with the principal European countries for a marked reduction in letter postage rates. With France a rate of 8d. or 10d. for a quarter of an ounce, according to the country in which the postage was paid, had existed. This was reduced to 4d. payable in either country. With Italy and Spain the existing rates of 1s. 1d. and 10d. respectively for a quarter of an ounce were reduced to 6d. The Belgian sixpenny half-ounce rate was made 4d., and with the German Postal Union the rate was reduced from 8d. to 6d. for a half-ounce letter. In general these were prepaid rates.[692] The first Postal Union meeting at Berne in 1874 reduced still further the old rates and simplified the rules for the settlement of postal payments between the subscribing nations. A uniform rate for prepaid letters of 2½d. the half ounce was agreed to, 5d. for an unpaid letter. Post cards were charged at half the rate of a prepaid letter, newspapers a penny for four ounces, printed papers (other than newspapers), books, legal and commercial documents, and samples of merchandise a penny for two ounces.[693] In 1891 the uniform letter rate existing among those countries in Europe which were members of the Postal Union was extended, so far as the United Kingdom was concerned, to all parts of the globe. On the first of October, 1907, a further reduction was made when the unit of weight for outward foreign and colonial letters was raised from half an ounce to an ounce, and the charge on foreign letters for each unit after the first was reduced from 2½d. to 1½d.[694]

Shortly after acquiring the money order business from the managing proprietors, the Post Office reduced the rates of commission to 3d. for orders not exceeding £2 in value, and 6d. for orders above £2 but not over £5, the latter sum being at that time the maximum. In 1862 the issue of orders for larger sums was allowed at the following rates: 9d. when not in excess of £7, and 12d. between £7 and £10. On the first day of May, 1871, a further reduction was made and the following scale of charges announced: for sums under 10s., a penny; between 10s. and £1, 2d.; between £1 and £2, 3d., and an additional penny for each additional pound to the £10 limit. It was found, however, that the low rate of a penny for small orders did not pay, and a decision was reached to raise the rate for these small orders and provide a cheaper means for their remittance by post. In pursuance of this policy the rate for orders under 10s. was increased to 2d., for orders between 10s. and £1 to 3d., and in 1881 the following rates were announced for postal notes: a halfpenny for notes of the value of 1s. and 1s. 6d.; a penny for notes of the value of 2s. 6d., 5s. and 7s., 6d. and 2d. for notes costing 10s., 12s. 6d., 15s., 17s. 6d., and 20s. In 1884 a new series of postal orders was issued, the 12s. 6d. and 17s. 6d. notes being dropped and new notes issued of the value of 2s., 3s., 3s. 6d., 4s., 4s. 6d., 10s. 6d. for a penny each and the rate on the 15s. and 20s. notes was reduced to 1½d. In 1903 still others were introduced with the result that a postal order may now be obtained for every complete 6d. from 6d. to 20s. and for 21s. and broken sums to the value of 5d. may be made up by affixing postage stamps. Finally, in 1905, the poundage on postal notes for 2s. and 2s. 6d. was reduced from 1d. to a halfpenny, and on postal orders for 11s. to 15s. inclusive from 1½d. to 1d. In 1886 the money order rates were reduced as follows:—

d.
On sums not exceeding £12
£23
£44
£75
£106

These rates were in their turn altered as follows on February 1, 1897:—

d.
For an order not exceeding £33
Over £3 but not exceeding £104