Her Majesty's Mails

n its financial relationship. When the system had been in operation two years, it was found that the success of the scheme in its first aspect had far surpassed the most sanguin

to see supplied, eventually, by increased productiveness in other departments of the revenue, which would be benefited by the stimulus given to commerce by improved communication.[102] Before the Parliamentary Committee he was equally explicit:[103] when asked, if, on a fivefold increase, there would still be a deficiency on the net revenue, he answered in the affirmative, to the extent of, he should think, 300,000l. He again, however, stated his conviction that the deficit would be made up by the general improvement of trade and commerce in the country. It is true that events proved that the falling off in the gross revenue was considerably in excess of all t

his work as it was passing through the press would, on the old system, have cost him 1,500l. in postage alone, and that the Bible could not have been printed but for the penny post. Secretaries of different benevolent and literary societies wrote to say how their machinery had been improved; conductors of educational establishments, how people were everywhere learning to write for the first time in order to enjoy the benefits of a free correspondence, and how night-classes for teaching writing to adults were springing up in all large towns for the same object. Mr. Stokes, the honorary secretary of the Parker Society-composed of the principal Church dignitaries and some intelligent laymen-which has done so much for ecclesiastical literature by reprinting the works of the early English reformers, stated that the Society could never have come into existence but for the penny postage. One of the principal advocates for the repeal of the Corn Laws subsequently gave it as his opinion, that their objects were achieved two years earlier than otherwise would have been the case, owing to the introduction of cheap postage. After a lapse of twenty years, many more useful societies might be mentioned of which the same could be said. An interesting letter from the late Professor Henslow, the then Rector of Hitcham in Suffolk, may be given, as it contains a pretty accurate estimate of the social advantages accruing to the masses. The professor had, consequent upon the change at the Post-Office, arranged a scheme of co-operation for advancing among the landed interest of the county the progress of agricultural science. After stating that the mere suggestion of such a thing had involved him in a correspondence which he could not have sustained if it had not been for the penny postage, he goes on to say: "To the importance of the penny postage to those who cultivate science, I can bear most unequivocal testimony, as I am continually receiving and transmitting a variety of specimens by post. Among them, you will laugh to hear that I have received three living carnivorous slugs, which arrived safely in a pill-box! That the penny postage is an important addition to the comforts of the poor labourer, I can also testify. From my residence in a neighbourhood where scarcely any labourers can read, much less write, I am often employed by them as an amanuensis, and have frequently heard them express their satisfaction at the facility they enjoy of now corresponding with distant relatives. The rising generation are learning to write, and a most material addition to the circulation of letters may soon be expected. Of the vast domestic comfort which the penny postage has added to homes li

empted. Colonel Maberly discovered, at the end of the first week, that Mr. Hill's plan had failed, at any rate, as a question of revenue. No doubt the wish was father to the thought. He not only thought so, however, but proceeded to take timely action and shield himself and his congeners against some probable future attac

the Post-Office authorities said the scheme would not pay its expenses: a year sufficed to prove their mistake. It was then said that the revenue sacrificed would never be recovered, and accidental circumstances, of which we shall presently speak, favoured for a time this view: the argument, however, was based on erroneous views, as subsequent events have sufficiently shown. Bad as things appeared, there were, nevertheless, many significant signs at the end of two years that the gross revenue under the old would soon be reached under the new system, and even prospects that the pa

speedy despatch of letters, and, on the other hand, pains are taken to keep down the cost of management, though some temporary loss of revenue will arise, I see no reason to fear that the loss will be either great or permanent." Mr. Hill's proposals, it will be remembered, were embraced under four principal heads. The first, a uniform and low rate of postage, was fully carried out; but it was the only part of the measure which was realized at this time. The second, increased speed in the delivery of letters; and the third, consisting of provisions for greater facility in the despatch of letters, were not attempted, or, if attempted, only in the slightest degree. With regard to the simplifications of the operations of the Post-Office, which formed the fourth great item, little or nothing was do

n everything else was working ill. Moreover, the tendency of cheap communication to improve the general revenue of the country was clearly apparent so early as 1842; and this is a fact which ought not to be lost sight of for a moment. The reduction of postage-rates was to the community a reduction of taxation; the capital released was driven into other and perhaps more

ailways. Dating from 1838, railways had been gradually absorbing all the stage-coach traffic. Mr. Hill, when making his original proposals, calculated that the number of chargeable letters might be increased twenty-four fold without overloading the mails, and without any material addition to the sums paid to contractors. So great and important-we would almost say vital-was the question of speed to the Post-Office, that railways were almost immediately brought into requisition, although the cost of the carriage of the mails was, at the outset, doubled, tripled, and even quadrupled! Many striking examples of the great difference in the cost of the two services are furnished in different Post-Office Reports. For instance:[112] In 1844, a coach proprietor in the North of England actually paid to the Post-Office Department the sum of 200

for some short time longer in his improvised place at the Treasury Offices. The divergence in the views of the new chiefs and the reformer made his position more and more unpleasant. On his being bowed out of office, Mr. Hill petitioned the House of Commons. The petition-which was presented by Mr. Baring, t

ost-Office improvements may be left to the Post-Office itself, is contrary to all pas

e been carried into effect, the want of due economy in the Post-Office, the well-known dislike entertained by many of those persons to whom its execution has been entrusted, and the influence such dislike must necessar

ble House will be pleased to institute an inquiry into the state of the Post-Office, with the view of adopting such measures as may seem best fo

conveyance of letters; the results of such measures, as far as relates to the revenue and expenditure of the Post-Office and the general convenience of the country; and to report their observations thereon to the House." Before proceeding to give any ac

not above half an ounce, with weight adop

ssary facility being afforded by the introduction of postage-stamp

of London, thus giving some of the principal towns in the provinces

ablished in London, and two we

rates-viz. the rates paid for those letters passing through this count

cial, was abolished, and low charges made f

made for the regis

as rendered available to

d from 75 millions in 1838-9,

of his plan, proposed as likely to improve it, as well as hear him on some of the objections that had been raised to it. Thus, with regard to the latter, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Goulbourn) had stated; just before the committee was appointed, that "the Post-Office did not now pay its expenses." This statement was startling, inasmuch as Colonel Maberly himself had given 500,000l. or 600,000l. as the proceeds of the penny postage rates in the advent year of the measure. But Mr. Hill resolved the difficulty. The inconsi

tly reduced, and the officials, in warning persons against sending coin in letters, strongly recommended that this Office should be used for the purpose. Still, the number of coin-letters increased, and the number of depredations increased with them, to the great prejudice of the measure. Mr. Hill, whilst in the Treasury, recommended a system of registration of letters, which appears to have been somewhat similar to a plan proposed by the Post-Office authorities themselves in 1838. A system of registration was the result; but the rate of charge of one shilling per letter was enough in itself to render the entire arrangement nugatory. In October, 1841, Lord Lowther proposed to the Treasury that they should let him put down the evil in another way, viz. that they should allow him to use his powers, under the 3 & 4 Vict. c. 96, sec. 39, to establish a compulsory registration of letters supposed to contain coin or jewellery, and to make the charge for such compulsory registration a shilling per letter. The Treasury Lords referred the proposal to Mr. Hill. He concurred in the opinion of the Postmaster-General, and thought the principle of compulsory registration quite fair. He pointed out, however, in a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, many objections to the plan, and contended that, so long as the registration fee was fixed at the high rate of a shilling, inducements enough were not held out to the public to register their letters voluntarily. Mr. Hill, therefore, suggested that the fee should be at once lowered to sixpence, to

10,000l. a-year had been paid to these companies for space in the trains that had never been occupied. He also endeavoured to show that the salaries of nearly all the postmasters in the country needed revision; that the establishments of each should also be revised. The changes under the new system, taken together with the changes which railways had made, had had the effect of increasing the work of some offices, but greatly decreasing that of many more. He proposed that there should be a complete revision of work and wages; that postmasters should be paid on

recommendations to

rtially employed; and that female employment might be encouraged in the provinces. (4) Simplification in the mode of assorting letters. (5) The adoption of measures to induce the public to facilitate the operations of the Post-Office-by giving complete and legible addresses to letters, by making slits in house-doors, and other means. (6) The establishment of a greater number of rural post-offi

f general and district letter-carriers; (2) the establishment of district offices; (3) an hourly de

impossibility that there should be hourly deliveries in London. A post-office in every village was thought equally absurd. We need only add, that the labours of the Committee led to little practical result. They decided, by a majority of four, not to report any judgment on the matter. Though this result must have been eminently unsatisfactory to Mr. Hill, especially on account of their not having expressed themselves on his grievances, yet, by refusing to exonerate the Post-Office from the charges which he had brought against it, the Committee may

TNO

-Office Re

Arrangements, read before the St

ond Repor

ts frequent uneasiness, and lost them much time. So with many needy literary men, in what Professor de Morgan somewhat absurdly calls the "Prerowlandian days." The Professor himself gives an i

's Notes of

s Magazine, S

. Joshua

] Pa

mittee on Postag

ry Committee, Thi

cy of the new system, but it required progressive and striking

ter-General's

mittee on the Po

were unpaid, and few more than half a million paid. Twelve months afterwards, the proportion of paid to unpaid letters was entirel

mmittee on Post