§ Lord Alportasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will state the present day value of the original Penny Black stamp issued in 1840 and how this compares with today's postal charges.
§ The Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Hesketh)I understand that since 1840 the cost of posting a letter has gone down by some 75 per cent., taking into account wage changes. The basis for this figure is that in 1840 a manual worker's average weekly wage bought 264 Penny Black postage stamps: today a manual worker's average weekly pay is equivalent of one thousand first class stamps.