282 



Ki:W so [/Til WALES. 



Newspapers printed in tlie Colony are carried free if posted within 

 seven days of date of publication, and if tliey do not exceed 10 oz. in 

 weight. Postage is, however, charged at the rate of ^d. per 10 oz. 

 on newspapers addressed to the other Australasian Colonies, and Id. 

 for 4 oz. to places beyond. 



The question of an inland and intercolonial, or at any rate of an 

 inland penny postage, is frequently brought prominently before the 

 public. It is thought by many, that a similar result would accrue 

 from such a reduction to that which followed the introduction of the 

 Eowland Hill penny postage system in 1840, namely, a large increase 

 of revenue. The conditions are, however, widely different. Great 

 Britain with a comparatively small territory had then a population of 

 some 17,000,000, whilst New South Wales with its vast territory to 

 serve with mail communication has at present a population of less than 

 1,500,000. (riven a population of even a third of that of Great Britain 

 in 1840, and it is probable that the Government, fully alive as it is to 

 the great advantages of cheap postage, would no longer withhold this 

 great boon. The question, however, as in the case of other conces- 

 sions, is one of revenue. With a debit balance in the working of the 

 Department of some £123,000 a year, the matter of giving ujd of 

 revenue is one which needs serious consideration, and it is proved that 

 every reduction, whether in the postal or telegraph tariff, has resulted in 

 loss, owing, of course, to the comparative smallness of our population. 

 Several concessions have, however, been made. The Id. rate granted 

 many years ago to Sydney and its suburbs (but which, as in other 

 cases of reduced rates, produced a loss) has recently been adopted 

 between some of our principal towns and their suburbs, and the postage 

 on wholly printed matter has been reduced to id. for the first 2 oz., 

 New South Wales being the only colony in Australia which, up to the 

 present time, has conceded such a reduction as last mentioned. 



The following figures will give some idea both of the present work 

 of the Post Office and of its progress during the last decade : — 



Number of Post Offices 



Receiving offices ... 



Number of miles travelled bj- mails 



Number of letters posted 



Number of newspapers posted ... 

 Number of packets posted 



The Postal and Telegraph revenue 



That useful adjunct of the Post Office— the Money Order Branch- 

 continues to progress rapidly, although the postal note system, pre- 

 viously referred to, is found to somewhat interfere with its business, as 

 persons desirous of remitting small sums of £1 and under prefer doing 

 so by postal notes, which, like bank notes, are payable to bearer on 

 demand, whilst money orders are only payable on the actual payee^s 

 signature, after being required to give the name of the remitter. 



^ Excluding parcels which have been already referred to. 



