2 OCTOBER 1886, Page 3

Mr. Henniker Heaton, M.P., has addressed to the Postmaster- General

a letter in favour of an ocean penny postage between England and her Colonies, which seems to us unanswerable. He shows that the average cost of transmitting a letter as freight is about a farthing, while the Post Office, if it re- ceived a penny for a half-ounce letter, could afford to pay ls. a pound; and proposes that all steamers should be compelled to carry letters at that rate. There would then be no loss to the Post Office, which is now unjustly burdened with the expense of contracts which are nothing but disguised subsidies, intended to secure the service of numbers of swift transports. Mr. Heaton does not demur to those subsidies, but says they should be charged to the Admiralty, and not levied from those only who write letters. With Mr. Heaton's argument that easy intercommunication by letter necessarily develops friendship, we cannot wholly concur, propinquity developing hatred quite as often as love; but to the argument from justice we can see no reply. It is certain that the subsidies are granted for other purposes than the carriage of letters ; and why should letter-writers exclusively be taxed for them ? They might as well be asked to build all lighthouses, because without lighthouses the ships carrying the mails would not be safe.