Transcriber's note
There are numerous quotations from documents in German, French andarchaic English which use many abbreviations, variant spellings andinconsistent spellings which are retained, unless an obvious typographicalcorrection is listed at the end of this document
The Table of Contents is found on page vii and the alphabetical Index is found on page 425.
STUDIES IN ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE.
Edited by the Hon. W. Pember Reeves, Ph.D.,Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
No. 50 in the Series of Monographs by writers connected with the LondonSchool of Economics and Political Science.
THE DEVELOPMENT OFRATES OF POSTAGE
THE DEVELOPMENT OF RATES OF POSTAGE
AN HISTORICAL AND ANALYTICAL STUDY
by
A. D. SMITH, B.Sc. (Econ.)
of the secretary's office,
general post office, london
with an introduction by
THE RIGHT HON. HERBERT SAMUEL, M.P.
Postmaster-General 1910-14 and 1915-16
LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD.
RUSKIN HOUSE 40 MUSEUM STREET, W.C. 1
[Thesis approved for the Degree of Doctor ofScience (Economics) in the University of London]
First published in 1917
(All rights reserved)
PREFACE
This study, which was prepared primarily as a ResearchStudentship Report for the University of London, is intendedto be a contribution to the history of rates of postage, andan attempt to ascertain the principles, economic or otherwise,on which they are and have been based.
The Postmaster-General accorded me permission to consultthe official records at the General Post Office, London, andthrough this courtesy I have been enabled to include adetailed examination of the economic aspect of the ratesin the inland service in this country, and to place in theAppendix copies of some original documents which have notbefore been printed. Without this permission, which I desirehere to acknowledge, it would, indeed, scarcely have beenpossible to undertake the inquiry. It must be made clear,however, that the work is of entirely private character, andcannot be taken as in any way expressing the views of theBritish Postal Administration.
In 1912, as the holder of the Mitchell Studentship inEconomics at the University of London, I visited Ottawaand Washington; in 1913 I visited Paris and the InternationalBureau at Berne; and in 1914, Berlin. I am much indebtedto the various postal administrations visited, to whom, bythe courtesy of the Postmaster-General, I carried official lettersof introduction in addition to my letters from the University,for facilities to consul