examined.[582]

The proposal for gratuity of transit was advanced with a view to
simplification of the administration of the Union. Its adoption would
have made all countries independent, so far as expenses and accounting
were concerned, of intermediate countries, and would have assisted the
adoption of a low rate of postage. It was, however, resolutely opposed
by those countries which, owing to their geographical situation and the
means of communication which they controlled, were called upon to serve
as intermediaries to a special degree. The case of Belgium was of
particular importance. It naturally resulted from her situation that she
was called upon to perform for other countries a transit business much
greater than that performed by other countries for Belgium. The net
revenue accruing to the Belgian administration from this source was very
considerable.[583] France and Italy were in a somewhat similar position,
mainly owing to the transmission of the mails between England and India
by the overland route. France rejected entirely the principle of
gratuitous transit.

It was feared that if an administration derived no benefit from transit
traffic it might be led to discourage it, to the detriment of general
facilities for the transmission of mails, and the Congress arrived at
the conclusion that some method of specially remunerating all countries
for transit services ought to be devised. A simple reservation as
regards special expenses caused by transit traffic was objected to on
the ground that in most cases the international traffic was forwarded by
the ordinary means and no special expense was caused--the real causes of
Post Office expenses being the services of despatch and delivery.[584]
Indeed, it was contended on this ground that the transit of
international mails could not be regarded as a service rendered.

Agreement was reached on most of the points raised by the proposals, and
a Convention constituting an International Postal Union, under the title
"L'Union g['e]n['e]rale des Postes,"[585] was signed on the 9th October
1874, to become operative on the 1st July 1875. The chief provisions of
the Convention in regard to the rates of postage were as follows:--

(1) The rate of postage for the Union was fixed--

(_a_) At 25 centimes for single letters, with liberty for each
country, as might be necessary on account of its monetary system or
for other reasons, to fix a higher or lower r