The History of the Postmarks of the British Isles from 1840 to 1876 - John Hendy (1909)

LONDON CHIEF OFFICE 17
important check on the sanctity of letters would be destroyed altogether.'' Rowland
Hill, who was then Secretary of the Post Office, in putting forward the official view,
pointed out that compulsory prepayment of letters was a part of his original plan for
Penny Postage, the object being to accelerate the sorting and dispatch of letters, and
most of all, their rapid delivery from house to house. Such benefits and advantages
were not clearly apparent to the general public, who loudly demanded the withdrawal of
the regulation, so that the Postmaster-General on the 24th of February, 1859, after a
couple of weeks of partial trial, was led to repeal the order. During this period such
letters as were returned were postmarked as shown in Fig. 75.'
POSTAGE
NOT
PAID
Fig. 75.
In the following extract from a letter addressed to his sister in South Australia,
Rowland Hill expresses his feelings and opinions on this subject :— "You will learn by
the newspapers, pei'haps, that we have been in hot water with the pubhc, i.e., with the
majority of the public, in consequence of an attempt to make prepayment of inland letters
compulsory to the extent of one penny. By this post I send you a Parliamentary return,
showing our reasons for this measure, and the grounds of its abandonment. This is the
first time I have had to retrace a step ; and to confess the truth, I don't like it. Since
the measure was abandoned, many have come forward to defend the restriction ; had
they done so in the first instance, the result might, perhaps, have been different."
It is not difificult to understand why it was considered desirable to make the prepayment
of the first rate compulsory. Letters posted unpaid have always been a cause of
much labour and a source of incessant trouble to the department, inasmuch as from the
time of their posting to that of their delivery every officer through whose hands they
pass has to keep a cash account of them, so that the double postage charged on such
letters is more than earned by the Post Office. Unpaid and insufficiently paid letters
bore various postmarks, as shown in Figs. 76-83.
MO RE- TO- PAY
(t
Figs. 76, 77. Used on letters insufficiently paid. Fig. 78. In black when Figs. 79, SO. When 2d. or 3d. is due
id. is due on delivery.
In red when id. has
been paid as postage.
respectively on letters.
NOT PAID
TDLONDON
FIRST postage:
NOT-PAID
postage: not paid
TO -LONDON
Fig. 81. Fig. 82. Fig- 83.
Used on unpaid redirected letters to indicate ll.at postage was not paid to first address,