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A STJTE PARCEL POST. 343
Mr. Page, like many another hasty theorist, forgets thst a whole
mail-bag full of letters only makes a moderate parcel. Taking
letters at 811 average of half an ounce each, there are 32, to
the pound, or 960 in a 30 lb. parcel. Thus the element of
weight enters into parcel traffic, say from a hundred to
thousand times 88 much as into lettel* t,ra@c. Sir Rowlend
Hill's admirable scheme of a uniform postal charge wm bmed
upon the carefully demonstrated fact that tllo mero transit cost
of B letter to EL distant place did not csceed tht to a nmr
place by more than 1-36th part of a penny. 'hxc was no
coin sufficiently small to reproseut tho difforonco of cost duo
to distance, and therefore he was enabled to ombraco tho
uniform charge system. But a little cslculation showe horn
different is the case with parcels.
The mileage rates charged by tho railway companies upon
goods vary exceedingly, and in tho most casual Inanner. Tho
minimum is usually &bout Id. per ton per milo, and tho masimum
is somcwhore about id. NOW, Id. per ton pcr milo is
equal to 4.464J. per 100 lbs. per 100 ulilos, so that, if mo merc
to assume only a medium chnrgc of 3d. per ton per milo, a
100 lb. parcel transmitted 600 miles would cost, mercly for
transit, about 5s. 7d,. The idea of charging this sum for the
carriage of a 100 lb. package for a few miles mould bo prohibitory
and absurd. But tho rates from which I have been
calculating are only those for ordinary goods by goods trains.
For parcel tra5c we should require either special rapid parcel
trains, or else accommodation in passenger trains, whioh must
be costly. Looking to the table given above, 'we can scarcoly
expect the railway companies to accept less than 25d. per
100lbs. per 100 miles (ti*&!. per ton per mi1e)"that is, about
a quarter of what they now charge for parcels. At this rate
the cost of transmitting the following weights 500 miles, without
any terminal charges, is worthy of notice:
8, d.
Parcel of 100 lbe. . 10 5
,, 10 Ibs. . 1 0 4
3s 1 lb. . 0 If
Letter of toz, 0 * 0 4