Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/600

and the offices of posts and telegraphs were united little by little.

In 1889 administrative duties were confided to postal and telegraph offices of the first class; at the same time the Departmental Directorships of posts were abolished. In the same year the postal law was revised with a view to reducing by one-half the periodical publications belonging to postal matter included in the third category; to increase the maximum limit of the weight of books, designs, plans, and samples of merchandise included in the fourth category; to include seeds of agricultural products in the fourth category; and to reduce the charges applicable to the postal matter belonging to the last category.

A convention was concluded in 1890 with Canada for the interchange of parcel post, and put into execution in the course of the same year.

The Japanese delegates at the Universal Postal Congress at Vienna signed the Acts concluded by the Congress, which were put into force in July of the following year.

The inland parcel post service, for several years the object of special investigation, was introduced in 1892. This innovation, so advantageous to commerce and industry, gave great facilities to the transportation of articles of small dimensions. The charges for parcels were not yet uniform, but governed by the weight and distance traversed. Parcels delivered outside of towns were charged extra—a regulation soon abolished.

The regulations of the military postal service were established at the time of the expedition of the army into Corea, in June, 1894. These regulations dealt with the treatment of correspondence sent to Japan by the military forces, the sailors and persons attached to the service of army or navy when these were sent into strange countries in time of war and extraordinary emergencies. This correspondence was carried free.

Some months later, war being declared against China, the need of a military postal service made it necessary to instal field post-offices for the correspondence of the expeditionary forces in China. These were authorized to send mails, issue postal orders, and receive savings bank deposits.

Formosa became a Japanese possession by virtue of the treaty of peace with China in 1895, and the postal system was organized there in April, 1896.

In 1895, with a view to encouraging agriculture, seeds, on which the postal charges were reduced anew one-half, were classed in the newly-created fifth category of parcel post.

In 1896 the extra charge for delivering parcels outside of city limits was abolished, the distance limits were greatly