THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO.
stamp for his reply. The fact that the postman had to collect the postage on delivery was also regarded as affording almost the only security that letters sent by post would ever reach their destination. In Sir R. Hill's pamphlet it was found necessary to deal with this supposed difficulty at considerable length. (See Appendix, p. 96.) The great reduction of postage, however, reconciled the public to the change.
Under the old postal system, to have attempted to secure prepayment, especially by means of stamps, would have been hopeless and objectless; yet many persons, trusting to their supposed recollection, have from time to time come forward to assert that they had suggested postage stamps long before Sir Rowland Hill's reforms gave the opening for them. Possibly they also believe they suggested first-class return tickets before railways were invented. Postage stamps, under the old system, when practically no one dreamed of prepaying his letters, would not only have been utterly useless, but if a stamp had been stuck upon an ordinary "single" letter, double postage would at once have become chargeable, as the letter would then have consisted of two separate pieces of paper.[1]
- ↑ The late Dr. J. E. Gray, of the British Museum (of whose honesty, as distinguished from failing memory, no question could arise), has claimed to have suggested adhesive postage stamps as early as 1833-4. Claims of similar character are more fully noticed at p. 36.
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