or tax of 200 per cent, on such necessary cost of primary distribution; which, after paying for the distribution of franks and newspapers, would afford a probable net revenue of £1,278,000 per annum.[1]
- That the secondary distribution of letters ought to be untaxed, and the small unavoidable expense defrayed, in each instance, by the inhabitants of the district for whose benefit it is established; also that it may be so managed as not, in any degree, to interfere with the simplicity of the arrangements proposed for effecting the primary distribution.
In treating this subject, it is not improbable that the want of practical familiarity with the arrangements of the Post Office may have led to some misconception in matters of minor importance; but I am not without hope that any such disadvantage may be counterbalanced by the absence of those prejudices in favour of an established routine, to which practical men are peculiarly, and, perhaps, unavoidably liable: and I feel assured that no misconception can possibly have arisen which materially affects the results at which I have arrived. The data from which these results are deduced are taken chiefly from Parliamentary Reports; they, as well
- ↑ The amount of revenue realized will, of course, depend chiefly on the increase in the number of letters, &c, the extent of which is necessarily very much a matter of conjecture; there is no doubt, however, that a large revenue will be obtained. See Appendix, p. 80, for a full examination of this question.
