The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the

1855-^9] POSTAGE ON NEWSPAPERS. 343
my duty to prevent, if possible, the establishment of
such an anomaly. The better, however, to set forth
my proceedings on this I
point, must mention some
antecedent circumstances.
First,
it must be borne in mind that while news-
papers 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.^
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
* More detailed information on this subject will be found in Appendix I.