18 AUGUST 1900, Page 3

The Times of Wednesday prints a letter in four columns

of small type from Mr. Henniker Heaton, M.P., to Lord Londonderry on the subject of postal reforms. He proposes that the surplus over £3,000,000 should be devoted to " cheapening, facilitating, and extending " the service. He would abolish the charge of twopence for the receipt of the charges on a telegram, reduce the registration fee from two- pence to a penny, reduce the minimum charge for the inland sample post from one penny to one halfpenny, give the monthly magazines the advantage of the newspaper post, and reform the cast-iron rules about postal orders. He would like to see many Continental methods adopted, such as the " cash on delivery " system, under which goods ordered by post are delivered by the letter-carrier on pay-. meat of the price, and the excellent expedient of the 3Tandat-carte, by which the post-card is used as a kind of bill of exchange. He would have postal orders sold on Sun- day, and the fine for insufficient postage never allowed to exceed the deficiency ; be proposes that the name and address, not exceeding eight words, on an inland telegram should be sent free. We have nothing but praise for Mr. Henniker Heaton's zeal and ingenuity in reform, and his list of proposals supplies Lord Londonderry with the material for valuable work.