First, it must be borne in mind that while newspapers had been gradually relieved of all special taxation, the postal privileges originally conferred upon them in consideration of such special taxation had been not only maintained, but greatly extended. Thus, whereas under the old system free delivery, even of stamped newspapers, extended only to such as passed between post town and post town, such towns being but about nine hundred in number, while a charge, varying from one penny to twopence, was levied in all other cases, they were now almost everywhere delivered free. Of course, too, newspapers shared with letters the advantage of that rapid transmission which was maintained at great expense.[209]
All this, and much more to the same general purpose, was set forth in an elaborate minute which I had to prepare some time afterwards. Nevertheless, in the year 1858, Government was called on to extend these privileges still further, and this unreasonable demand I felt bound, in the interest of the public, to resist. As the correspondence, pro and con, will be found at full in Parliamentary Return No. 302, 1860, a short notice here will suffice.
In a minute there given, after dwelling on the important changes mentioned above, I pointed out that the actual rate charged on newspapers, was, in respect of the heavier newspapers, only one-eighth of that charged on letters. I referred to the known impracticability of defining a newspaper, and the consequent necessity of extending the privileges now applied for, if conceded at all, to much other matter; and I indicated the obstacles that would thence arise to the rapid conveyance of the mails, through the difficulty and danger of giving out or receiving heavy bags without stopping the trains.
The Treasury, however, deciding in favour of the memorialists, all that could be done was to devise means to reduce the evil to a minimum; and in this, as indeed in the whole transaction, I had Lord Colchester’s thorough support. The plan I devised received the approbation of the Treasury, but the whole matter was for the time set aside by the change of Government which speedily followed. Lord Colchester was followed by Lord Elgin, thus continuing the succession of excellent Postmasters-General. Before this time, however, the Times, generally so friendly to me, and so often affording my plans a support on which I set a high value, began a series of attacks on the Post Office, and more particularly on myself, which continued, at short intervals, for some months, and became the source of much trouble. This evil, however, brought its consolation. Letters of sympathy, not unmixed with indignation, came in from various quarters, amongst others from the Duke of Argyll, my late official superior, and from that tried friend of truth and justice, the late Lord Radnor.
It is with much regret that I say anything in disparagement of the leading journal; omission, however, would impair the truth of this narrative, and would so far leave others that may tread in my path unwarned as to what, in like circumstances, they must expect. As I have already said, the Times has much oftener afforded me support than subjected me to attack; frequently, too, bringing a salve for the very sore it had made, and ably maintaining those views which, in its moments of irritation, it had scornfully disparaged. On one of the very points on which it attacked the office about this time, viz., the comparative amount of work and wages in the department, it subsequently wrote in an admirable manner; nor can I refer my readers to an abler exposition of sound principles than is to be found in its article of July 24th, 1862. I cannot touch upon this subject without mentioning the remarkable fact that, whereas the introduction of penny postage was really followed by a reduction in the hours of work, and at the same time by an increase in the remuneration to almost every man in the department, save only the Postmaster-General and the Secretary, an impression has very generally prevailed, and still, I believe, remains in many quarters, that the truth is the very reverse.
Early in the year 1860, Mr. Gladstone requested me to attend at his office to meet the manager of the Times and another gentleman, who wished to make some representations on the part of the journals. The interview took place accordingly, when I found that the demand was for a reduction of the newspaper rate in all cases, however heavy or light the paper, to one penny. The argument chiefly relied on by the applicants was that the railway companies were happy to convey the papers at half the charge; to this I merely replied that, if such were the case, there could be no reason, seeing that there was no monopoly in the conveyance of newspapers, to make any application at the Post Office, the whole matter being already provided for. I need not say, however, that this reply, though it remained unrefuted, was held to be quite unsatisfactory. Of course, the rejoinder was that the facility in question was limited to places served by railway lines; but I had no difficulty in showing that this destroyed the whole value of the argument, since it was the very relief from the expense of extended and ramified operation which enabled railway companies to do their work at so low a rate.
It was almost immediately after this interview that I was attacked with the severe illness which for a long period disabled me for duty, and from which, indeed, I have never fully recovered. The proceedings closed for the time with a statement made by Mr. Gladstone on May 14th, 1860, when, in reply to an inquiry from Mr. Baines, member for Leeds, in relation to a bill which had been introduced on the subject, he stated that differences of opinion had arisen between those interested and the Post Office on certain points which Parliament would have to consider, and then proceeded as follows:—
“We are, however, met by this difficulty. Sir Rowland Hill, the Secretary to the Post Office, I regret to say, has been labouring under a severe illness, and an intimation has been made to him on medical authority that it is absolutely requisite, in order to the public retaining his invaluable services, that he should have leave of absence for no less a period than six months. I think, therefore, it will be impossible for the department to state its case on a subject of this kind in the absence of one who, I may say, has been the life and soul of all the Post Office arrangements in this country for the last twenty years. Under these circumstances, I have no alternative but to postpone that inquiry which I admit to be fairly demanded; and as it is uncertain whether or not Sir Rowland Hill may recover before the end of the Session, I think it best to drop the bill, reserving to myself the renewal of it at a future period, after this inquiry shall have been made.”[210]
To conclude this subject, I must mention that when, nine years later, after my retirement from the Post Office, the demand for increased newspaper privileges was revived by articles in various journals and speeches in Parliament, the Times leading in the one, and Mr. Graves, M.P. for Liverpool, in the other, I turned my attention to the quest of means for so far complying with such demand as might be consistent with justice to the general tax-payer; in other words, I sought to discover whether sufficient facilities might not be afforded, at a low rate, without increasing the loss already sustained by the Post Office in dealing with newspapers. I had the satisfaction to hit upon a plan, by which all that was really important might be effected without subjecting the department to any loss whatever; so that its adoption would imply a double gain, first, in adequate concession to those immediately interested; and, secondly, in making the special service self-supporting. By my plan newspapers, undirected, not folded for the post, and therefore, of course, without wrappers, would have been distributable by the Post Office much as is now done by newsagents. At the same time I pointed out how spare revenue might be advantageously employed in giving additional and very important facilities to the conveyance of letters. Throwing my views, as clearly and concisely as I could, into the form of a memorandum (see [Appendix M]), I sent this to Mr. Gladstone, who, in return, informed me, by his private secretary, that he had read it “with the greatest interest,” and had sent it on to the Postmaster-General. Hearing nothing further, and finding that the question would be again raised in the Session of 1870, I wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Lowe, telling him of the memorandum, and offering to send him a copy. A letter from his private secretary, accepting this offer, is the last communication I ever received on the subject.
The course actually taken, viz., that of abolishing the limitation on weight and halving the postage, with no arrangement for economy in operation and no set-off, save what is implied in the abolition of the impressed stamp (in itself an important advantage, I acknowledge—one, indeed, for which I had often striven), largely increases a loss already great, and, what is still worse, greatly strengthens an example already mischievous. Its ultimate consequences it is impossible to predict. Demand has already arisen for the conveyance of other printed matter at the same rate, a demand which can plead in its support that such matter may, by existing rules, be detained to suit the convenience of the office, while newspapers must, of course, be forwarded at once. In short, I am myself quite unacquainted with any logic by which it can be maintained that while a newspaper weighing six or eight ounces is conveyed for a halfpenny, a letter weighing but half an ounce should be chargeable with a penny, or, in other words, why the lightest letter should be charged twice as much as the heaviest newspaper.