50 centimes " 500-2,500 " "
1 fr. " 2,500-5,000 " "
1-1/2 fr. " 5,000-8,000 " "
2 fr. " exceeding 8,000 " "

For parcels not exceeding 1 kilogramme the transit rate should in no
case exceed 1 fr.

* * * * *

VII

AN ANALYSIS OF COST

METHOD

The Post Office[610] performs but one service in respect of the ordinary
postage paid on a packet, under whatever rate or regulations the packet
is posted. Whether the packet be a letter, a postcard, a halfpenny
packet, a newspaper packet or a parcel,[611] the service performed in
respect of the ordinary postage is simply to transmit the packet without
delay to the place of its address.[612]

There are, of course, several intermediate stages in the progress of the
packet from the place of posting to the place of delivery. Under the
most favourable circumstances, as in the case of a letter from one small
town to another small town for which there is a direct mail, the packet
is handled two or three times by various officers; and in many cases, as
with the letters from a suburb of one large town to a suburb of another
large town, or to a place in a rural district or vice vers[^a], as many as
ten or twelve times.

Although the character of the service to be performed, viz. transmission
to the place of its address, is identical in every case, the character
of the packet naturally has considerable influence on the nature and
cost of handling at the various stages, and the methods adopted in
dealing with the packet. But the operations are in essence the same, and
the chief difference is in the amount of time occupied and the nature of
the office fittings employed.

This variation of cost and method does not correspond with variation in
the rate of postage paid on the packets. Except in the case of parcels,
all distinction on the basis of rates of postage disappears once the
sorting office is reached.

In regard to the chief indoor operations there is, except at the
smallest offices, complete separation between packets sent by parcel
post and all other packets; but parcels are in some cases taken out with
other packets for delivery at the same time and by the same officer.
Except in rural districts they are, however, generally taken out
separately for the first morning delivery, and frequently for