appears to be, first to determine as nearly as possible the
natural cost of conveying a letter under the varying circumstances of
distance, etc., that is to say, the cost which would be incurred if the
Post Office were conducted on the ordinary commercial principles, and
postage relieved entirely from taxation; and then to add to the natural
cost such amount of duty as may be necessary for producing the required
revenue."--Ibid. p. 10.

[74] "I found, first, that the cost of conveying a letter between post
town and post town was exceedingly small; secondly, that it had but
little relation to distance; and thirdly, that it depended much upon the
number of letters conveyed by the particular mail; and as the cost per
letter would diminish with every increase in such number, and as such
increase would certainly follow reduction of postage, it followed that,
if a great reduction could be effected, the cost of conveyance per
letter, already so small, might be deemed absolutely insignificant.

"Hence, then, I came to the important conclusion that the existing
practice of regulating the amount of postage by the distance over which
an inland letter was conveyed, however plausible in appearance, had no
foundation in principle, and that consequently the rates of postage
should be irrespective of distance."--Sir Rowland Hill, _Life of Sir
Rowland Hill and History of Penny Postage_, London, 1880, vol. i. p.
250.

[75] "It appears, then, that the cost of mere transit incurred upon a
letter sent from London to Edinburgh, a distance of 400 miles, is not
more than _one thirty-sixth part of a penny_. If therefore the proper
charge (exclusive of tax) upon a letter received and delivered in London
itself were twopence, then the proper charge (exclusive of tax) upon a
letter received in London, but delivered in Edinburgh, would be twopence
_plus_ one-thirty-sixth part of a penny. Now, as the letters taken from
London to Edinburgh are undoubtedly carried much more than an average
distance, it follows, that when the charge for the receipt and delivery
of the letter is determined, an additional charge of one-thirty-sixth
part of a penny would amply repay the expense of transit. _If,
therefore, the charge for postage be made proportionate to the whole
expense incurred in the receipt, transit, and delivery of the letter,
and in the collection of its postage, it must be made uniformly the same
from every post town to every other post town in t