for ordinary letters. Such an attack, if
successful, would of course have been fatal to Post Office revenue. It
was proposed, therefore, to make definite provision for the transmission
by post at low rates of postage of small packets containing articles
other than samples. A rate for small parcels, whatever the contents,
would at the same time remove the difficult and unsatisfactory task of
deciding what was or was not a sample or pattern. These objects might be
secured by a general reduction of the rates for inland letters; and this
course was ultimately adopted, after some hesitation from fear of the
effect on the revenue. The rates on the heavier inland letters were
accordingly reduced by Treasury Warrant of 16th August 1871, and the
sample post at the same time abolished.[504]

In the early 'eighties there was a strong demand from the public for the
re-establishment of the sample post. The advantage to trade was
emphasized, and attention was called to the existence of a privileged
rate for samples on the Continent and in the international service. The
existence of a low sample rate in the international service led, indeed,
to a curious development. As samples which, if posted in this country,
would be charged 2d., could be posted on the Continent for foreign
transmission at a charge of 1d., several firms in England were in the
habit of sending large numbers of sample packets in bulk to Belgium,
where they were posted at the 1d. rate addressed to places in England.
The result of this man[oe]uvre was that, instead of receiving the inland
postage of 2d. for these packets, the British Post Office performed
practically the same service in respect of them as if they had been
posted in England, but received nothing, since under the Postal
Convention the whole of the postage on foreign letters is retained by
the country of origin. It was estimated that there was in this way a
loss to revenue of [L]1,000 a year.

It was in great part the existence of this anomaly which led to the
re-establishment of the sample post in 1887. No exact estimate was made
of the cost of dealing with sample packets, but the authorities stated
that the rates proposed, viz. under 4 ounces 1d., over 4 ounces and
under 6 ounces 1-1/2d., and over 6 ounces and under 8 ounces 2d. (8
ounces to be the maximum weight), would be remunerative, and that any
immediate loss to revenue in consequence of the reduction in rates would
therefore be likely soon to b