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326 METHODS OE SOCIAL REFORM.
Apin, that veteran social reformer, Mr. Edwin Chadwick,
fdvo~ated 8 pard post delivery, in connection with railway
reform, and a cheap telegraphic post. His paper was read at
the Belfast meeting of t.he Social Science Association, and is
printed in the Journal of the Society of Arts for October, 1867
(vol. xv. p. 780). The subject was unfortunately mixed with
' the, to my mind, visionary proposal to purchase the whole
railways of the kingdom, and, naturally enough, nothing
practical has resulted from t,he discussions in that direction.
My own study of tho subject commenced about the same year,
when I prepared for the Manchester Statistical Society a
paper " On the Analogy between the Post Office, Telegraphs,
and other systems of conveyance of tho United Kingdom,
as regards Governmout control." After invest,igating in a
sonzewhnt general manner the conditions under which industrial
functions can be properly undertaken by the State,
I came strongly to the conclusion that n parcel post is most
suitable for State management. But this part of the paper
wm, at the suggestion of the Society, very much abbreviated
beforo being printed, BO as to allow the arguments
in favour of a Government telegraph system to be more fully
dsvelopod.
In 1867, thc Royal Commission on Railways published
their Report, in which they strongly advocated the establishment
of n parcel post. They remarked (p. lsiii.) that railway
compauies are not bound to carry parcels, nor is there in the
railway Acts of Parliament any tariff for parcels, limiting the
charges for collection and delivery. The public is, therefore,
at their mercy. They consider that a separate tariff should be
laid down and published to govern the conveyance as distinguished
from the collection and delivery of parcels, so as to
enable the rates of charge to be kept down by the free action
of individuals acting a8 carriers by railway. Then they add:
'' It is, however, apparent that the parcel service, 80 far inter.
ohange is concerned, can never bo efficiently performed for the public
until railway companies co-oprate through the Clearing-house to impmve
their arrangements for parcel traffic. Lcmking at the extent to
which the system hws now reached, we conPider th& the time