SOME FURTHER SUGGESTIONS FOR THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL.

O obtain more than we immediately hope for is, in general experience, an unusual condition of affairs. And yet that is the result to us of the Imperial Postal Conference, recently held in London. In November last, Mr. Mulock had the courage to reduce the postage on letters from Canada to Great Britain to three cents per ounce, and subsequently he carried through Parliament a bill authorizing a two cent rate per ounce on letters from points in Canada to points in Canada and the United States. Now we are to have this two cent rate made uniform, whether to Great Britain, the United States, Cape Colony or Natal, and we will probably find, when the preliminary arrangements are worked out, that whilst the Australasian Colonies may not reciprocate with a penny rate on letters posted there for Great Britain, Canada or the Cape Colonies, all letters destined in these countries for Australasia will be forwarded at two cents per ounce.

All this recalls the days of Rowland Hill and his courage in introducing penny postage in Great Britain. Post Office deficits will, of course, have to be faced at first, but we can have confidence in the future. If the reduction leads to our writing only three letters to our Canadian correspondents where before we wrote two, and to our increasing our correspondence with Great Britain to an extent equal to this heavy reduction in postage, the Postmaster-General will probably feel satisfied. Will we do this? It may require a little patience, but when a sheet of linen paper and a good envelope together now cost less than one-third of a cent, and a further two cents per ounce will carry the letter to our friends in the old land, 3,000 miles away, and, even farther, to the Cape Colonies, there is some good ground for expectation that with quick steamship facilities and enlarging business with Great Britain and the other colonies, our correspondence will largely increase.

The different provinces show great diversity in the use which they make of the postal service. Presently, Ontario contributes

100 cents per head of population to the gross postal revenue, whilst Nova Scotia contributes 70 cents, New Brunswick 67 cents, Province of Quebec 60 cents, and Prince Edward Island only 40 cents. There is much room for improvement in Ontario, for whilst Great Britain shows 45 letters posted per head of population, in Ontario there are only 31. And yet, each resident in Ontario writes on the average nearly twice as many letters as each resident in the Province of Quebec, and two and a half times as many as each resident in Prince Edward Island. These figures indicate the influence of environment and fertility of soil, as well as of the enterprise and education of the inhabitants, on the postal revenue.

It thus depends in the main on the use which the public makes of the increased facilities whether the deficiency which must inevitably result at first from these decreases in the stamp fee will not only be made up, but be in time turned into a surplus by the increased correspondence. The deficiency, however, suggests whether new or enlarging sources of revenue cannot be created in other departments of the postal service, and whether the expenses incurred in conducting that service cannot be reduced in some directions. Mr. Mulock is known to have effected very considerable savings already, and to have by this and other means largely done away with the great deficit with which former Postmasters-General seem not to have had the courage to deal. With the pruning hook already in his hands, he will, perhaps, be the more ready to receive suggestions.

Deducting the business of the city post offices, the reports show that the compensation, salaries and allowances paid to postmasters in British Columbia equal 29 per cent., and in Ontario 32 per cent. of the gross postal revenue of these provinces. Quebec expenses are similarly 34 per cent. of its gross postal revenue, whilst those of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Manitoba amount to nearly 40 per cent., and Prince Edward Island to 47 per cent. of their respective revenues from their post offices. Going further into detail, the compensation and allowances in the country offices vary from 30 to 50 per cent of the gross revenue of the offices, and those of the non-accounting offices are generally higher, reaching in Prince Edward Island 54 per cent. Now, those who are familiar with the country post

offices know that, in a vast number of cases, the postmaster is a storekeeper as well, and that the result, if not the avowed purpose, of the combining of the positions, is that the post office becomes a stepping stone to an enlarging business in the sale of goods. Probably every person in the neighbourhood who sends or receives letters is familiar with the storekeeper's shop and the class of goods which he has to sell, and many are led thus to become his customers. If no profit was derived directly from the post office branch of his business, the storekeeper would yet indirectly benefit largely in increased sale of his goods. Is it therefore necessary that the post office should compensate him to an average of towards 40 per cent. of the gross postal revenue of his office-a figure that to an ordinary agent would be unexpectedly large? I merely make the suggestion that in this matter Mr. Mulock may on investigation find, possibly, an important field in which to use his pruning hook. If only ten per cent. of the gross postal revenue were saved, bringing the average compensation to 25 per cent., the saving effected would amount to over $260,000.

There are some departments of the postal service where increased revenue will be, probably, readily obtainable in certain cases by changes in the methods employed, and in others by the reduction of the fee or increase in the weight allowed. More particularly is this increase in revenue possible in the money order system, newspaper postage, parcel post, savings bank and insurance of registered packets.

MONEY ORDERS.

The competition of the Express Companies in charges and facilities, and the long, inconvenient, time-consuming form which has to be made out by the applicant for a Government money order, necessarily have had their effect upon this department of the post office. The Express Companies' system is more convenient in several ways. Their orders are made out on verbal application and at all business hours, consume less time of both applicant and clerk, and are payable anywhere wherever there is an agency of the Express Company instead of at one specially named post office as in the case of money orders. The Government might take a suggestion from the British form of application, which is very brief, or perhaps even see its way to do away with a written application altogether. The postal note,

the introduction of which has for years been advocated by myself and others familiar with the British system, has at last to Mr. Mulock's great credit been brought into use in our Canadian post office, and it is to be hoped that its simplicity and the saving of time gained to both applicant and the post office will lead to the simplification of the money order as well.

Other facilities might, however, be afforded to the applicant. Presently, the money order office is closed at 4 p.m. in the larger post offices, whilst the other branches of the department continue open until a later hour. The result is that those desiring to make remittances after that hour are forced to apply to the Express Companies or to take the risk of an uninsured letter. The extension of one hour in the time of closing would in at least the larger cities be an advantage.

The public now buys orders for smaller sums than formerly. Twenty years ago the average amount of each money order was $26, as against $11 now. This is partly due to the increased use of the money order system by the public at large in the remitting of small sums, but is also partly accounted for by the extension of the Express Companies' business and the lower charges made by them on orders for sums over $20. This was last year in part remedied by the Department reducing the commission charged, but even now for sums above $40, the commissions demanded by the Government are in excess of those of its competitors. What would seem to be wanted is such a reduction as will induce those of the public who do not keep bank accounts to use the money order system more extensively for the transmission of the larger sums up to $100. The effect of this would be to also raise the average of the commission received, which presently is only 9 cents on each order. That this is low will be understood when it is remembered that the minimum charge made by the banks on cashing cheques or on drawing drafts on other towns is 15 cents, however small the amount of the cheque or draft.

PARCEL POST.

Can the parcel post be called the unqualified success which we should like to see? There is an immense field for this department of the post office work, and yet in all this vast territory of ours the public only sends 1084 parcels daily through the post

office. Only one post office in nine on an average sends even one parcel daily. The speedy transmission of small parcels from one city or town to another is a great public convenience, and yet why will not the public take advantage of the opportunities the post office affords them? I have for years pointed out that the charges made are excessive. With a rate of 6 cents for each 4 oz., a 3 lb. parcel sent from, for instance, Toronto to Belleville or Kingston costs 72 cents, a rate which in most instances adds so much to the cost of the article sent as to be simply prohibitory. The postal fee is, in fact, made so large as to drive the business into the hands of the Express Companies, whose much lower charges are themselves still so excessive as to be largely prohibitory of that immense class of business, which stands ready waiting to be developed, between friends in distant parts of the country, and between the shopkeepers in the cities and towns and their country customers.

Those who have studied the British parcel post and the British railway parcel service know well the enormous expansion which has been given to this business there by reasonable rates. The railways regulate the charge by the distance and the weight. A 1 lb. parcel will be taken 100 miles for 10 cents; a 3 lb. parcel the same distance for 14 cents; and an II lb. parcel for 24 cents. On the other hand, the British post office has uniform rates irrespective of distance, and will take a 1 lb. parcel to the most remote point in the kingdom for 6 cents; a 3 lb. parcel for 12 cents; and an 11 lb. parcel for 36 cents. And what is the result of these rates? One firm alone-John Noble, Limited, of Manchester-sends about 1,000 parcels daily by post and rail, or as many as our whole Dominion does in the same time.

What an expansion of business the large retail houses of the Canadian cities would experience if the postal rates were adapted to what is known as "shopping by mail?" The experience of families in every town and village is that there are often articles of a kind or a quality which they cannot obtain in their local shops, and that it would be most convenient if they could procure them at reasonable cost from the large centres. In Great Britain the method is to ask for samples, and from these the selection is made. Here, in Canada, the postal rates on samples is reasonable, but when the samples arrive and the