uenced by other than purely Post Office
considerations. The chief development in this direction has been a legal
decision obtained in 1889, in a dispute between the Post Office and the
Cunard Steamship Company, which arose from an attempt by the Post Office
to introduce the American system of despatching mails by the fastest
ships available, and paying, not a general subsidy, but a sum calculated
on the basis of the weight of mails carried. The High Court ruled that
the Postmaster-General is entitled to have all such mails as he may
think fit received on board any of the Company's ships and conveyed and
delivered at the ports of destination without delay.[699] Failing
agreement as to the payment to be made in respect of such services, the
Post Office can fall back on its statutory right to the conveyance by
merchant ship of all letter mails at the rate of a halfpenny a letter.

The extension of penny postage to all countries has been prevented
simply by financial considerations.[700] In 1910 the question of
establishing penny postage with France received a good deal of public
attention both in this country and in France, but the Government were
not prepared at that time to face the sacrifice of revenue.

* * * * *

III. THE THURN AND TAXIS POSTS IN GERMANY

The great number of the principalities which made up the Germany of the
early Middle Ages, the mutual jealousy of the princes, and the
indefinite authority of the Emperor, made the introduction of any sort
of general system of communication extremely difficult. But for a long
period before posts of the ordinary type were established in Germany,
there existed throughout the Empire a system of messengers
(_Boten-Anstalten_).

These establishments were maintained by the political administration, by
the scholastic institutions, by political corporations, by merchant
bodies, or by private individuals.[701] Their function was to effect the
exchange of the correspondence of their founders. In addition, the
occasional posts (_Metzger_), merchants travelling to the fairs,
judicial and Imperial messengers, and pilgrim monks were much employed
for the carrying of letters.

The system of _Boten-Anstalten_ was widely extended, and its functions
were not limited to the conveyance of letters.[702] Its messengers
travelled some of the great routes, such as Hamburg-Stettin-Danzig;
Hamburg-Leipzig-Nuremberg; Cologne-Frankfort-Augsburg; and these