een places within the limits of the
delivery of the General Post; and the threepenny post, for letters
directed to or sent from places within the limits of the local service,
but beyond the limits of the General Post delivery. In 1831 the limits
of delivery of the twopenny post were extended to include all places
within a radius of 3 miles of the General Post Office; and in 1833 the
limits of the threepenny post were extended to include all places beyond
the 3-mile limit, and not exceeding 12 miles from the General Post
Office.[549] No further modifications of importance were made before the
establishment of uniform penny postage.

The introduction of a uniform rate of postage for the whole country of
1d., only half the lowest rate which had been charged in the London
local post, obviously made unnecessary the continuance of that post, and
also of the penny posts scattered up and down the country; or rather
extended to the whole country the benefit of rates based on items of
local cost only, since the system of uniform postage irrespective of
distance rests on the recognition of the preponderating cost of the
local or terminal services, and the relatively insignificant cost per
letter of the service--conveyance from place to place--which depends on
the distance of transmission.

Financially the London penny and twopenny posts were always successful.
Under the penny rate the profits had approached half the gross
receipts--in 1800 they were 43 per cent.--and under the twopenny rate at
once rose to more than 60 per cent., in 1825 reaching 67 per cent. The
net revenue, which in 1801 under the penny rate was [L]16,286, had in 1837
under the twopenny rate risen to [L]73,334.[550]

CANADA

Special local rates have from quite early dates been in operation in
America. If in England the lowest rate fixed for General Post letters
had been found too high to afford reasonable accommodation for the
public in London and other cities, it may well be imagined that the
lowest rate in Canada, gauged as it was to the needs of a service which
should cover a country of vast area and ill-provided with roads, would
be found altogether high for local letters. Moreover, in most places no
sort of delivery service existed. Local letters could only be placed in
the post office to be called for by the persons to whom they were
addressed. In Canada the actual cost of the conveyance of the mail was
consequently disproportionately high compared w