, made payable to the general revenue. An arrangement was also made
for the acceptance and delivery of local letters, at the rate of 1
sgr.[557] If the letters were called for at the post office (and the
service of delivery at the house therefore not performed) the rate was
reduced to 1/2 sgr.; and when one person posted as many as one hundred
local letters at the same time, the rate for each letter was no more
than 4-1/2 pf. (reduced in 1860 to 4 pf.), including delivery at
residence. When as many as fifty were posted at one time, the rate was
reduced to 1/2 sgr. By a regulation of the 21st December 1860 the limit
of weight for the single letter was, however, raised to 1/2 pound, and a
rate of 2 sgr. imposed on heavier letters, but the rates were not
otherwise materially changed. The law of 16th September 1862 abolished
the delivery fee on ordinary letters. In 1865[558] the rate for local
packets of printed matter was reduced to 4 pf.

When, at the foundation of the North German Union in 1867, the postal
rates were reorganized, the question of the local rates proved to be one
of some little difficulty, since the existing rates differed very
considerably in the different parts of the Union. The Prussian rates
were high as compared with the rates in some other States; and any rate
which could be applied generally was likely to represent a considerable
reduction of the Prussian rates, but a considerable increase of the
rates in other States. The reorganization of the local rates was
consequently delayed. After much discussion a new local rate for places
in the former Prussian postal territory (excepting Berlin and Hamburg)
was established:[559] for ordinary letters 1/2 sgr., for printed matter
and samples 1/3 sgr. In Hanover the local letter rate was made 1/3 sgr.;
in Brunswick 1/4 sgr.; and in Cassel, Erfurt, Frankfort-on-Main, and
Hamburg similar rates were established.[560]

From the 1st January 1875 a uniform rate of 5 pf. for local letters was
introduced throughout the Imperial postal territory. The rate was
irrespective of weight, but there was a maximum limit of 250 grammes.
All other local packets (postcards, printed matter, and samples) were
subject to the ordinary rates of postage. No special local rate was
fixed for parcels: the lowest zone rate was payable, and was, of course,
in effect a local rate. The general application of the new letter rate
would, in certain cases, have resulted in increased rates, and i