Mr. Kellaway, the new Postmaster-General, has made a bad start.
His department had underestimated its expenditure by the trifling sum of £3,500,000. Therefore Mr. Kellaway has decided, without asking leave of the House of Commons, to increase still further the very high postal charges. From June 13th postcards will be charged three-halfpence instead of a penny, the minimum printed paper rate will be a penny for two ounces, the foreign letter rate will be threepence for the first ounce instead of twopence-halfpenny, and the registration fee will be threepence instead of twopence. These new taxes are ill-conceived, for they will tend to reduce the postal revenue and to hamper trade. Mr. Kellaway'aidetermination to abolish all Sunday collections and deliveries Will be still more unpopular. He says that it is " very unrennmerative." On that ground he might as well stop all the mails to outlying places or revert to the old plan of charging by distance. Mr. Kellaway ought to know that the Post Office is primarily a publics service and that its object is not so much to make profits as to benefit the whole community. Moreover, unless the postal officials who work on Sunday are to have their salaries reduced by a seventh, there can be no appreciable saving as the result of this reactionary., measure.
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