y; and the transit
rates in respect of mails for or from these territories for distances of
more than 300 nautical miles were made 25 fr. per kilogramme for letters
and postcards, and 1 fr. per kilogramme for printed matter, samples, and
commercial papers.

The later Congresses have added numerous services to those provided
under the original scheme, such as, e.g., reply-paid postcards. For the
most part, however, these additional services are of minor importance,
and concern only a small part of the international traffic,[591] the
bulk of which still passes under the main divisions established at the
first Congress.

In connection with the rates applied to those classes of the traffic
there are three chief points of importance--the initial charge, the
scale of weights, and the transit rates. The question of modifying the
international letter rate, which had remained unchanged since the
foundation of the Union, was raised at the Washington Congress in 1897.
The Austrian delegate proposed, not indeed that the initial charge
should be reduced below 25 centimes, but that the maximum weight allowed
for the single letter should be increased from 15 grammes to 20 grammes.
The British and French delegates opposed the proposal.[592] The French
delegates said it would involve a loss of more than a million francs to
their administration. In some cases, e.g., Italy, the raising of the
limit would have had the effect of rendering the international service
cheaper than the internal service. In the end the proposal was rejected.

The subject of transit rates, which had not been seriously considered
since the first Congress, was also raised at the Congress of Washington
(1897), two proposals in regard to it, by Germany and by Austria-Hungary
respectively, being under discussion. In the original project of the
Union, gratuitous transit had been proposed, with the reservation that
remuneration should be paid in cases of special expenses occasioned to
an intermediary by the transit of foreign mails. The new German proposal
was for the abolition of all transit payments except in those cases
where, according to the statistics of the international service, a
payment of more than 50,000 fr. a year was due, and in those cases the
actual amount due to be reduced by 25 per cent., or at least by 50,000
fr.; to make the amount payable only by those countries whose share
exceeded 10,000 fr.; and the reduction of the maritime transit rate from
1