n be
little doubt that if the possibility of developments in the publication
of trade journals such as have occurred, had been foreseen, some
provision would have been made for the prevention of the transmission at
heavy loss to the Post Office of large numbers of publications which
are, in effect, trade catalogues. While the newspaper post involves a
very considerable loss, it affords the public a useful facility, and one
which is largely availed of for the purpose the Act of 1870 was intended
to assist, viz. the dissemination of intelligence.[306]

The rate has proved too high to secure a large postal traffic in
newspapers. The total number passing by post within the United Kingdom
in 1913 was some 200 millions, which, in days when individual daily
newspapers publish as many as a million copies of every issue, is only
an insignificant portion of the newspaper traffic of the country. It is
also only a small portion of the total postal traffic, which in the same
year amounted to some 6,000 millions. In this respect there has been a
great transformation. Under the old conditions newspapers were
distributed almost exclusively by post, and formed a large proportion of
the total number of postal packets and by far the greater bulk of all
the mails,[307] while now they form only an inconsiderable proportion
both in bulk and number. The Post Office has no monopoly of the
distribution of newspapers, and for the most part newspaper publishers
themselves provide for the distribution of by far the larger part of
their issues. In all the large towns this is the case.[308] Private
enterprise can of course compete wherever the traffic would be
profitable, and private agencies provide satisfactorily for the
distribution of the vast proportion of newspapers, it being found
practicable throughout a large part of the country to place newspapers
on sale at the published price; and in all such cases payment of
postage, which in the days of the halfpenny newspaper represents an
additional charge of 100 per cent. on the published price, is out of the
question. Only those for the more remote towns and country districts are
left to the Post Office; but the newspaper traffic by post, although
conducted at a loss, comprises so small a part of the whole postal
traffic, that the result on the finances of the Post Office is not
serious. If, however, such an unremunerative rate were applied to a
class of traffic likely to assume large proportions t