fanatical Free Traders are now forced to perceive. Thanks, again, to Mr. Chamberlain, the danger is already provided against.
One must not forget that the immense floating British population—say, 200,000 passengers, 200,000 merchantmen sailors, and 150,000 blue-jackets, more than half a million in all—participates. Every British ship, liner, tramp, and coaster, every one of the grim, frowning, fascinating turreted monsters, so inspiring to a Briton, so terrible to the foes of our country, is a British postoffice.
It is interesting to take an occasional postal census, as casting a lateral illumination on the growth of commerce and the consolidation of Empire.
In 1897 the Christmas and New Year's mails sent to Australasia, the East, Canada, and the United States, numbered 10,890; in 1898, 11,994.
The following table, showing the mails before and after the grant of Imperial Penny Postage, is ample reward for lone years of toil One can almost hear the delighted lau^ter and see the radiant faces of those who received all this mass of correspondence; and one cannot forget the vast amount of honest work it represents for our toiling craftsmen.
Estimate of the Weight of Letters, Postcards, and other Articles Exchanged by the United Kingdom with the Colonies.
Despatched from United Kingdom to British Colonies.
Year. Letters, Postcards,
and other
Articles.Circulars, Book
Packets, Patterns,
Newspapers.Total. lb. lb. lb. 1897-1898 431,800 7,006,900 7,438,700 1903-1904 989,000 11,610,000 12,499,000
