We note with regret that the Chancellor of the Exchequer
has given way on the halfpenny-postage question, and that we newspapers are still to enjoy a subsidy from the Government in the matter of circulating our wares—for, unless we are mistaken, it is a subsidy, since the Government cannot afford to convey newspapers at a halfpenny. No doubt the nation's loss is the SpeatatOr'8 gain in this respect, but it is a gain we do not want in war time. We note also that circulars and other printed matter are to continue to be sent for a half- penny—another very weak concession. Very much the best way of dealing with the whole subject would have been to follow the Canadian example and impose an extra half- penny war-stamp upon everything that passes through the post. That, it is calculated, would have brought in an extra ten millions of revenue. We shall be told, of course, that there was great opposition to the increase in the postal rates. No doubt there was, but so there will be to every increase in taxation. Yet every one acknowledges that the money must be got somewhere.
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