16 OCTOBER 1926, Page 3

Very reasonable letters have appeared in the Times from Sir

George Sutton, Messrs: W. H. Smith and others about the postage of British periodicals in the Empire. At present the weight of a parcel of printed matter sent overseas from Great Britain is limited to 5 lb. For inland postage the' weight of a similar parcel may be as much as 11 lb. Moreover, many of the inland services of the Dominions and Colonies already carry parcels of the same maximum weight as are carried within Great Britain.' It seems quite illogical, therefore, that the 5 lb. limit should be maintained for the sea. passage. Obviously there is much waste of time in packing as well as much waste of paper and string in making up small parcels instead. of large ones. The Post Office itself could presumably deal more easily with printed matter in bulk. We are continually told that Canada is becoming Americanized by the influx of American periodicals. A plain way to increase the circulation of British ideas in the Dominions, and parti- cularly in Canada, is to remove clumsy and obsolete postal regulations. We hope that the subject will be attended to in the Imperial Conference.

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