Her Majesty's Mails

[197] We do not mention this latter circumstance, be it understood, to discourage the use of slits or letter-boxes in private doors. An occurrence of the above kind must be exceedingly rare, whilst nothing so much helps the prompt delivery of letters as such an arrangement. [198] Perhaps, however, there is room to doubt whether the true reform will consist in anything less than the entire abolition of packet subsidies, and the offering of the contracts in the ordinary way of commercial transactions. An ocean penny-postage, e. g. penny sea-postage, would then be almost inevitable. A letter charged a penny the half-ounce would amount to nearly 300l. a ton, an enormous freightage it will be admitted, to the United States, being even fifteen times steam freight to India. Nor when the letters get across the sea would they be subject to heavy inland postage either in the one country or the other. In the United States letters are circulated for thousands of miles for three cents, while for half an anna, a sum equivalent to three farthings of English money, a letter may be forwarded through the length and breadth of British India.