^^^^S^USHHS ^ap|i||;,^;. .^|-- *i. . l»^fc:Ste--... r- v>*:>, 45 /' 'I THE POST OFFICE UF FIFTY YEARS AGO. SIR ROWLAND HILL, K.C.B., D.C.L., F.R.S., F.R.A.S. ORIGINATOR OP THE UNIFORM PENNY POSTAGE SYSTEM. Born Dkokmbee .'!, )~9!'i ; Died August 27, 1879. Burfrd in Wkstminstkr Abbey. ( From the " Graph ii" Hept. «, Isrii.) THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. CONTAINING REPRINT OF SIR ROWLAND HILL'S FAMOUS PAMPHLET Dated. 22s;d February, 1837, PROPOSING PENNY POSTAGE, WITH FACSIMILE OF THE ORIGINAL SKETCH FOR THE POSTAGE STAMP, AND OTHER DOCUMENTS. Note. — All profits on the sale of this Work go to the Rowland Hill Benevolent (Post Office) Fund. CASSELL & COMPANY, Limited I.ONDON, PARIS, NEW YORK d: MELBOURNE. CONTENTS PAGE The Post Office of Finr Yeaes Ago 1 Sir Kowland Hill's Pamphlet Pkoposing Penxy Postage 49 *'«crt(»^ THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. Among the many beneficent measures for which the first fifty years of Her Majesty's reign will alwa3^s he gratefully remembered, few, perhaps, have con- ferred greater blessings upon the public at large, especially upon the poorer classes, than the reforms effected during that period in our postal S3^stem — ■ reforms which, commencing in the United Kmg- dom soon after Her Majesty's accession, have now been extended to every ci^alised country in the world. It is just fifty years since Sir Rowland Hill, with whom the great reform originated, published (in February, 1837) his celebrated pamphlet, and in the belief that it will be interesting to many now re- joicing in Her Majesty's Jubilee to be enabled to glance for a moment at the condition in which the public found itself in postal matters at the com- mencement of her beneficent reign, we reprint the B 1 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. pamphlet, giving at the same time a brief description of the older state of things, so that our readers may the more readily judge of the magnitude of the change which has been effected. In these days, when postal facilities have so enormously extended, and cheap and rapid com- munication by letter has become so completely a part of our every- day life, like the air we breathe or the water we drink, few persons ever trouble them- selves to think how it would be possible to exist without them; and those who are not old enough to remember the former state of things, under a postal system which the authorities at St. Martin's- le-Grand of that day regarded as almost a marvel of perfection, can hardly picture to themselves the inconvenience to which the public had then to submit. As Miss Martineau points out in her History of the Thirty Years' Peace (1815—1845), we look back now with a sort of amazed compassion to the old Crusading times, when warrior-husbands and their wives, grey-headed parents and their brave sons, parted with the knowledge that it must be months or years before they could hear even of one another's existence. We wonder how they bore the depth of silence, and we feel the same now about the families of polar voyagers, but, till the com- mencement of Her Majesty's reign, it did not occur to many of us how like this was the fate of the largest classes in our own country. The fact is, 2 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. there was no full and free epistolary intercourse in tlie country, except for those who, like Memhers of Parliament, had the command of franks. There were few families in the wide middle class who did not feel the cost of postage a heavy item in their ex- penditure ; and if the young people sent letters home only once a fortnight, the amount at the year's end was a rather serious matter. But it was the vast multitude of the lower orders who suffered like the Crusading families of old and the geographical dis- coverers of all time. "When once their families parted off from home, it was a separation almost like that of death. The hundreds of thousands of apprentices, of shopmen, of governesses, of domestic servants, were cut off from family relations as if seas or deserts lay between them and home.* In those days, the visit of the postman, so far from being welcomed, was, as a rule, dreaded. Letters were almost always sent unpaid, and the heavy postage demanded for what might sometimes turn out to be merely trade circulars was a serious tax grudgingly paid, or, amongst the poorer classes, the letter had to be refused as too expensive a luxury. The lowest postage on any letter, except those in the local town deliveries and their suburban posts, was 4d. This, however, would only suffice if the distance it was carried did not exceed 15 miles. The Vide Martineau's History of the Thirty Years' Peace, Vol. lY., p. 11. B 2 3 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. postage on Inland letters carried longer distances was regulated by the following scale : — From any Post Office to any place not exceeding 15 miles from such office Above 15 and not exceeding 20 miles 20 30 30 50 50 80 80 120 120 170 170 230 230 300 PER ' SINGLE " LKTTER. d. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Beyond tliat distance tlie postage increased at the rate of one penny per " single " letter for every additional 100 miles. One halfpenny was also charged on every letter crossing the Scottish border. Under this scale the postage on any "single" letter from London to Brighton was 8d. ; to Liverpool or Manchester, lid. ; to Edinburgh or Grlasgow, 16^d. ; and to Cork or Londonderry, 17d. Only " single" letters, however — i.e., letters written on a single sheet of paper — could pass at these rates. If an envelope or cover were used, or if the letter con- sisted of two pieces of paper, or contained any enclosure, the postage was at once doubled. Two enclosures involved treble postage. If, however, the letter, with or without enclosures, weighed an ounce, the postage was fourfold, and each additional quarter of an ounce in weight led to an additional rate of postage. 4 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. Thus, a letter just under 2 ounces in weight, which now goes from Land's End to John o' Groat's for l^d., would, fifty years ago, have been charged sevenfold the heavy rates given in the above table. Such a letter, even if sent only from London to Croydon, would have been charged a postage of 2s. 4d. ; if sent from London to Manchester, it would have been charged 6s. 5d. ; while from London to Cork the postage would have been 9s. lid,, or nearly 80 times the present rate. In order to ascertain whether letters contained enclosures, they were held up against strong arti- ficial lights, many post offices in those days being built without windows, the better to facilitate such examination ; and many letters got stolen in the post office through its being thus discovered that they contained bank-notes or other valuables.* How seriously these high charges tended to sup- press correspondence may be gathered from the fact that, except in the town and local " penny posts," where postage was comparatively low, the Post Office was but little used. Half the letters delivered in London fifty years ago were posted within 12 miles of St. Paul's, three-quarters within 100 miles, and only one-fourth in all the world besides. As another illustration, which will perhaps bring this hindrance of correspondence more fully home to the present generation, it may be mentioned that * For a remarkable case of this kind, see Sir R. Hill's pamphlet, Appendix, p. 72. 5 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. when, in 182 7, Sir Eowland Hill, then a young man, was engaged to the lady who afterwards became his wife, the high rates of postage compelled them to restrict their correspondence to a letter once a fortnight. Newspapers, in consideration probably of the large contributions they then made to the public revenue — viz., a duty of Is. 6d. on every advertisement, a paper duty at l|d. a lb., and a newspaper stamp duty of Id. or upwards on every copy printed — were allowed, as a rule, to circulate through the post without additional charge, though there were important exceptions to their enjoyment of this privilege. No newspaper could be posted in any provincial town for delivery within the same, nor anywhere within the London District (a circle of -12 miles radius from the General Post Office) for delivery within the same circle, unless a postage of one penny, in addition to the impressed newspaper stamp, were paid upon it — a regulation which, however, was constantly evaded by large numbers of newspapers, intended for delivery in London, being sent by newsagents down the river to be posted at Grraves- end, the Post Office then having the trouble of bringing them back, and of delivering them without charge. These restrictions have long been removed, the taxes levied on newspapers have all been abolished, a better daily paper is now to be had for a penny than that for which fivepence was charged fifty years ago, and newspapers can now be sent through the 6 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. post anywhere within the United Kingdom for one halfpenny — i.e., for half the price then paid for the minimum stamp duty alone. There was no " Book Post " in those days, printed matter, such as trade circulars, being charged the same as letters ; and those persons who now declare it a " postal scandal " that they should be charged so extravagant a rate as one half-penny for the col- lection, conveyance, and delivery of two ounces of trade circulars sent from one end of the United Kingdom to the other — say from London to Cork or London- derry — may find it profitable to reflect that the charge in 1837 for the same service would have been, in the instance we have given, nearly 240 times as much! — ^that is to say, somewhat distorting the meaning of the old proverb, they are now only " in for a penny " where formerly they would have been " in for a pound." As an instance of the extraordinary charges some- times made under the old system, we may mention that in 1839 Sir John Burgoyne wrote to complain that, for a packet of papers sent to him at Dublin, which had been forwarded from some other part of Ireland by mail-coach, as a letter, instead of a parcel, he had been charged a postage of £11. That is to say, for a packet which he could easily have carried in his pocket, he was charged a sum for which he could have engaged the whole mail-coach — i.e., places for four inside and three outside passengers, with their portmanteaus, carpet bags, &c. 7 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. Much evidence was produced before the Parlia- mentary Committee ajDjDointed in 1837 to inquire into Eowland Hill's scheme of postal reform, of the hardships which the high rates of postage caused to the poor. Frauds, to evade postage, were daily practised upon the Post Office, and, where contraband con- veyance was not available, letters were constantly refused on account of the heavy postage demanded, or remained many weeks in the postmaster's hands, when the persons to whom they were addressed were poor — mothers sometimes even pawning their clothes to pay for letters from their children, or having to wait till, little b}'' little, they could save up the money necessary for that purpose. Mr. Emery, Deputy-Lieutenant for Somersetshire, and a Commissioner of Taxes, stated, as evidence of the desire but inability of the poor to correspond, that — " A person in my parish of the name of Rosser had a letter from a grand-daughter in London, and she could not take up the letter for want of the means. She was a pauper, receiving two- and-sixpence a week. * * * She told the post-office keeper that she must wait until she had received the money from the re- lieving officer ; she could ne\'er spare enough ; and at last a lady gave her a shilling to get the letter, but the letter had been re- turned to London by the post-office mistress. She never had the letter since. It came from her grand-daughter, who is in service in London." Struck by this fact, Mr. Emery made further 8 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. inquiries, and received the following statement from the postmaster of Ban well : — " My father kept the post office many years ; he is lately dead ; he used to trust poor people very often with letters ; they generally could not pay the whole charge. He told me — indeed, I know — he did lose many pounds by lettuig poor people have their letters. We sometimes return them to London in conse- quence of the inability of the persons to whom they are addressed raising the postage. We frequently keep them for weeks ; and, where we know the parties, let them have them, taking the chance of getting our money. One poor woman once offered my sister a silver spoon to keep until- she could raise the jnoney ; my sister did not take the spoon, and the woman came with the amount in a day or two and took up the letter. It came from her husband, who was confined for debt in prison ; she had six chil- dren, and was very badly off." The following was reported by the postmaster of Congresbuiy : — " The price of a letter is a great tax on jioor people. I sent one, charged eightpence, to a poor labouring man about a week ago ; it came from his daughter ; he first refused taking it, saying it would take a loaf of bread from his other children ; but after hesitating a little time, he paid the money, and opened the letter. I seldom return letters of this kind to Bristol, because I let the poor people have them, and take the chance of being paid ; some- times I lose the postage, but generally the poor people pay me by degrees." The postmaster of Yatton stated as follows : — " I have had a letter waiting lately from the husband of a poor woman, who is at work in Wales ; the charge was ninepence ; it lay many days, in consequence of her not being able to pay the postage. I at last trusted her with it," 9 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. Mr. Cobden stated : — " We have fifty thousand in Manchester who are Irish, or the immediate descendants of Irish ; and all the lai'ge towns in the neighbourhood contain a great many Irish, or the descendants of Irish, who are almost as much precluded as though they lived in New South Wales from all correspondence or communication with their relatives in Ireland." * Mr. Henson, a working hosier of Nottingham, stated : — "When a man goes on the tramp — i.e., when he travels in search of employment — he must either take his family with him, perhaps one child in arms, or else the wife must be left behind ; and the misery I have known them to be in from not knowing what has become of the husband, because they could not hear from him, has been extreme. Perhaps the man, re- ceiving only sixpence, has never had the means, upon the whole line, of paying tenpence for a letter, to let his wife know where he was." The average postage on a letter in 1837, even in- cluding the penny letters which circulated by the local posts, was as high as 6Jd., a sum which in those days formed a far larger fraction of a working man's daily wages than it now does ; and the difficulty the poor had in paying such a postage was well shown in the evidence of Mr. Brewin, of Cirencester, a member of the Society of Friends. " Sixpence," said he, " is a third of a poor man's daily income. If a gentleman, whose fortune is a thousand pounds a year, or three pounds a day, had to pay one-third of his daily * Life of Sir Rowland Hill and History of Penny Postage, Vol L, pp. 306-7. 10 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. income — that is to say, a sovereign — for a letter, how often would he write letters of friendship ? " -^ Extravagant and almost prohibitive as were the postal charges in 1837, the service rendered by the Post Office in return was ludicrous for its slowness and inefficiency. There was only one dispatch of mails from the country into London daily (the mail-coaches arriving at St. Martin's -le- Grand at about 6.30 a.m.), and there was only one dispatch from London in return ; — this left at 8 p.m. All letters passing through London, as, for instance, those from Brighton to Birmingham, were detained, all day long, at St. Martin's-le-Grand, and when Sunday (blank-post day) intervened, the delay was of course far greater. Between towns near to each other on opposite sides of London, this delay and infrequency of communica- tion rendered the Post Office almost useless. Thus a letter posted in Uxbridge on Friday evening, after the office had closed, would not be dehvered at Graves- end — a distance of little more than 40 miles — till Tuesday morning, and for this service the minimum postage was sixpence. Even if blank-post day did not intervene, aud a letter was posted at Uxbridge on Monday morning, it would not be delivered at Gravesend till Wednesday ; and if the reply were immediately written and posted, * Life of Sir Rowland Hill and History of Penny Postage, Vol. I, p. 305. 11 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. it would not be received till Friday — four days being then required, under the most favourable circumstances, for an exchange of communication per post which can now be effected in twenty-four hours. Scotland and Ireland Avere even less well served by the Post Office than England and Wales, but even in this, the most favoured portion of the United King- dom, there were, at the date of Her Majesty's acces- sion, districts larger than Middlesex into which the postman never entered. Of the 2,100 Registrars' Districts into which England and Wales were then divided, 400 districts, each containing on the average about 20 square miles, and about 4,000 inhabitants (making in all a popu- lation of about a million and a half) had absolutely no post offices whatever. The chief places in these districts, containing about 1,400 inhabitants each, were, on the average, about 5 miles, and in some instances as much as 16 miles, from the nearest post office. Even in the London District, where postal facilities were better than in any other part of the country, the service was singularly slow and costly. A letter posted at any Receiving Office in the city after 2 p.m. was not delivered, even in Brompton, till next morn- ing,* and the postage charged was 3d. per " single " letter. * A letter can now be posted up to 6 p.m., and still be delivered the same evening. 12 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. As regards postal communications with places abroad, it may suffice to record tlie fact that the lowest postage on a single letter to Paris was Is. 8d., to Gibraltar it was 2s. lOd., and to Egypt, 3s. 2d. Any letter not exceeding half an ounce in weight may now be sent to these places for 2^d. A letter just weighing an ounce can now be sent to Canada or the United States for 5d., but in 1837 the postage on such a letter was 8s. 8d., with a further charge for delivery on arrival. A packet of manuscript accounts, weighing, say, 2f lbs., can now be sent to Canada or the United States, by book post, for lid., but in 1837 the "re- duced postage " on such a packet was £5. Nothing heavier than 3 lbs. could be sent at this " reduced " rate. If the packet weighed, say, 3^ lbs., it was charged full letter postage — viz., £22 10s. 8d., the present charge for such a packet being only thirteen pence. The mails to North and South America, India, and other places beyond seas, were in 1837 conveyed by sailing vessels only, those to New York being con- veyed by gun-brigs, starting from Falmouth, the voj^age frequently occupying many weeks ; and mails were made up in London for North and South America, the Cape of Good Hope, and India, only once a month. The slow-saihng packets have long ago been super- seded by swift steam vessels, and in place of the single monthly dispatch, the mails to India are now 13 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. four a month, and to the United States four a week. With such indifferent postal facilities, our readers will not be surprised to learn that in England and Wales, at the commencement of Her Majesty's reign, each person received, on the average, a letter only once in three months ; in Scotland, only once in four months ; and in Ireland, only once a year. The business of the Post Office, in those days, instead of keeping pace, as it does now, with the growth of population and trade, had become stationary, no in- crease whatever having taken place in either the gross or net revenue of the Post Office during the twenty years ending with 1835. Such was the state of things when Mr. (afterwards Sir) Eowland Hill, rather more than fifty years ago, turned his attention seriously to the question of postal reform. It is a remarkable fact that until Sir Eowland Hill had thoroughly imbued the Post Office with his own earnestness for improvement, nearly all the great reforms effected in the postal service originated with persons wholly unconnected with that department — Mr. Dockwra, who in the time of the Commonwealth instituted the town and local " penny posts," Mr. Allen, who about the year 1750 established cross posts, and Mr. Palmer, who in 1784 effected the substitution of mail coaches for horse and foot posts, having all been "outsiders;" and history again re- peated itself in the case of Sir Eowland Hill, who, 14 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY TEARS AGO. until his plan had been some time in operation, had never been inside the walls of any post office — a request of his, in 1836, while preparing his plans, to be permitted to see the working of the London Post Office having been politely refused. Some two or three years before this date, Mr. Eobert Wallace, M.P. for Greenock, had, in Parlia- ment, commenced a series of bold attacks upon the postal administration, and had succeeded in breaking dowTi the prestige which, ever since Palmer's great improvements, that department had enjoyed as a mj^sterious and almost perfect organisation. Mr. Wallace had compelled the Post Office to adopt many minor improvements, but the supposed necessity of protecting the Post Office revenue from any serious loss caused Postmasters- Greneral and Chancellors of the Exchequer to set their faces firmly against all demands for a general reduction in the rates of postage. Sir Eowland Hill had taken great interest in the question, and had come to the conclusion that the postage rates charged the public were far too high, even if revenue, and not public convenience, were the primary object for which the Post Office was main- tained. Fortunately, in the financial year ending March 31, 1836, there was a considerable excess of revenue of the country generally over the expenditure, thus leaving a good surplus at the disposal of the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer, and, as is usual in such 15 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. cases, there was mucli speculation as to what re- missions of taxation might be granted. This seemed to Sir Eowland Hill to afford a good opportunity for pressing for a reduction in the rates of postage (the high rates then levied being, in fact, a heavy tax on all commercial and social communications), and in order to satisfy himself what reductions might be possible, he set to work carefully to ascertain the actual cost which the Post Office had to incur in the collection, conveyance, and delivery of letters, and it was in the course of this analysis that he discovered the startling and hitherto unsuspected fact that the actual cost of conveyance jye-r letter, from one post town to another, was not, as had hitherto been sup- posed, a large fraction of the total cost incurred, and roughly proportionate to the distance the letters were carried, but was so exceedingly small that it might fairly be disregarded, and that a uniform rate of postage, with all its manifold advantages of simplicity, was not only practicable, but even fairer than one in any way dependent upon dis- tance. How Sir Eowland Hill arrived at this discovery, and demonstrated that by improved arrangements the lowest rate of postage then charged — viz., one penny — would suffice for all inland letters of moderate weight, even for those carried the longest distance, will be gathered from a perusal of his pamphlet. Uniformity of postage, doubtless, at the present IG THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY TEARS AGO. time, seems to most persons so completely in accord- ance with the fitness of things, that it may appear strange when we state that in 1837 it was so startling an innovation that, when publishing his pamphlet, Sir Eowland Hill thought it prudent to reject a suggestion to entitle it " Uniform Penny Postage," fearing lest the mere title should cause people to throw away the pamphlet unread, as something too ridiculous to deserve perusal. He, therefore, adopted the more modest heading of ''Post Office Reform — Its Importance and Practicability," and it was not until the reader had been carefully led, step by step, to the point where no other conclusion would have been logical, that uniformity of postage was suggested. So difficult, indeed, at that time, was it to convince even intelligent people that this was the true principle, that even after the pamphlet had been widely circu- lated, and a Parliamentary Committee had heard all the evidence in its favour, the adoption of uniformity of charge was only carried in Committee by the casting-vote of the chairman. The difficulty the Committee had may perhaps be best understood by the present generation, if they bear in mind that Sir Eowland Hill's proposition to charge letters going long distances no more than those posted and delivered in the same town, was at least as great a departure from what was then believed to be the natural and proper arrangement, as a projDosi- tion would be now-a-days, to adopt the lowest railway passenger fare as a uniform charge for all distances. 17 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. To many of the present generation, especially to those who are afflicted with the mania for collecting postage-stamps, it will doubtless be interesting to read the earliest propositions for their adoption. Stamped envelopes, for jn-epayment of postage, are said to have been in use in Paris as far back as the year 1653, but they seem soon to have fallen into disuse, possibly because prepayment of postage was then, in France, as contrary to long-established custom as in 1S37 it was in this country, and no advantage by way of reduced postage appears to have been offered to secure prepayment. At all events, their existence had long been forgotten, and was certainly unknown to Mr. Charles Knight, the emi- nent publisher, who about the 3'ear 1834 revived the idea, by proposing that stamped wrappers should be em- ployed as a substitute for the impressed newspaper stamp, as is explained in Sir Eowland Hill's pamphlet. Mr. Charles Knight's valuable idea, modified by Sir Eowland Hill's happy suggestion (given in his evidence before the Commissioners of Post. Office Inquiiy on 13th of February, 1837*) of making the stamp adhesive " by using a bit of paper just large enough to bear the stamp, and covered at the back with a glutinous Avash, which ... by applying a little moisture," might be attached to the letter,f was * See Ninth Report of the Commissioners of Post Olfice In- quiry, pp. 32 — 33. See also Sir Eo\vland Hill's pamphlet, p. 45. t " Mr. Hill, adopting Mr. Knight's suggestion, has applied it to the general purposes of the Post Office with an ingenuity and 18 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. the little seed which has now attained so gigantic a growth.* Prepayment of postage by means of stamps has now become so universal a practice that to many persons it may seem incredible that, in 1839, Sir Francis Baring, and some other earnest advocates of Sir Eowlaud Hill's reforms, believed it would be almost impossible to induce the public to prepay their letters. This necessary change of habit was, indeed, regarded by them as a dangerous rock ahead, upon which the scheme might possibly be wrecked. To prepay a letter in those days (unless addressed to a person of very inferior social position) was considered quite as contrary to good manners as it would now be for one gentleman, when writing to another, to enclose a address which make it his own." — Quarterly Review, No. 128, p. 565. * Postage stamps were first used in the United Kingdom on 6th May, 1840. They were manufactured by Messrs. Perkins, Bacon, and Petch, of 69, Fleet Street, who for forty years retained the contract for supplying the penny and two- penny labels — these constituting more than nine-tenths of all the postage stamps em- ployed. The number of stamps produced by them in the forty years amounted to the enormous total of nearly twenty-three thou- sand millions, sufficient, if placed in line, to facsimile of the . 1,1 ^ ^ nj!i^ ±- T OEIGINAL SKETCH FOE encu'cle the world fifteen times over. In ^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ 1855, Messrs. Delarue & Co., of 110, Bunhill Row, also commenced the manufacture of postage stamps, having obtained the contract for the fourpenny labels. Gradually the whole work of making postage stamps for this country and most of its colonies has been entrusted to the latter firm. 2 19 THE POST OFFICl'; OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. stamp for his reply. The fact that the postman had to collect the postage on delivery was also regarded as affording almost the only security that letters sent by post would ever reach their destination. In Sir 11. Hill's pamphlet it was found necessary to deal with this supposed dijficulty at considerable length. (See Appendix, p. 9G.) The great reduction of postage, however, reconciled the public to the change. Under the old postal system, to have attempted to secure prepayment, especially b}^ means of stamps, would have been hopeless and objectless ; yet many persons, trusting to their supposed recollection, have from time to time come forward to assert that they had suggested postage stamps long before Sir liowland Hill's reforms gave the oj)ening for them. Possibly they also believe they suggested first-class return tickets before railways were invented. Postage stamps, under the old sj^stem, when practically no one dreamed of prepaying his letters, would not only have been utterly useless, but if a stamp had been stuck upon an ordinary "single" letter, double postage would at once have become chargeable, as the letter would then have consisted of two separate pieces of paper.* * The late Dr. J. E. Gray, of tlie British Museum (of whose honesty, as distinguished from failing memory, no question could arise), has claimed to have suggested adhesive postage stamps as early as 1833-4. Claims of similar character are more fully noticed at p. 36. 20 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. THE RECEPTION OF THE PLAN AND ITS RESULTS. Although, if strict chronological order were observed, Sir Eowland Hill's pamphlet should here be given, it will probably be more convenient to many readers if we first complete this narrative by a short account of the manner in which his proposals were received, and of the results which his reforms have now produced. By the Post Office authorities the scheme was met with the most determined hostility, one high official stating that, in his opinion, there was no portion of the plan that could be adopted with advantage either to the revenue or to the public, while the Postmaster- General (Lord Lichfield) declared that " of all the wild and visionary schemes he had ever heard or read of, it was the most extraordinary." The Secretary of the Post Office did not believe the people would Avi'ite more letters even if they were carried for nothing ; the Postmaster-Greneral, on the contrary, declared that the amount of correspondence would be so enormous as to be quite unmanageable, and that the walls of the Post Office would burst — an observation that laid his lordship open to Sir Eowland Hill's sarcastic rejoinder that he was sure the Postmaster- G-eneral, on reconsideration, would have no difficulty in deciding whether, in this great and commercial country, the size of the Post Office was to be regu- lated by the amount of correspondence, or the amount of correspondence by the size of the Post Office. That the Government was opposed to his scheme 21 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. was, however, no news to Sir Eowland Hill. Early in January, 1837, he had, through Mr. Charles P. Villiers, then and still Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton, privately submitted the plan to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Spring Eice)— offerinof, indeed, to let the Government have the whole credit of the reform, if the}^ cared to take it up — a course, however, which they were too timid to adopt.* By the public at large the scheme was welcomed with enthusiasm. Meetings in support of it were called throughout the country, and petitions for its adoption poured in upon Parliament. Mr. Robert Wallace, M.P., gave the question his heartiest sup- port, and moved for and obtained a Parliamentary Committee to inquire into the scheme. In London a strong Committee, known as " The Mercantile Committee," was formed under the Chair- manship of Mr. Bates, of the firm of Baring Brothers, containing many influential gentlemen, amongst whom the name of Mr. Greorge Moffatt, afterwards M.P. for Southampton, deserves especial mention. Of this Committee Mr. (afterwards Sir) Henry Cole was the energetic Secretary, and he and it gave valuable assistance in pressing the reform on the attention of the public and the Government. As abeady stated, one great difficult}^ was to con- vince the Parliamentary Committee of the fairness of * Vide Life of Sir Eowland Hill and History of Penny Fostage, A^ol. I, p. 263. 99 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. adopting a uniform rate of postage, and this vital principle was only carried at last by the casting-vote of Mr. Robert Wallace, the Chairman ; but even then the scheme was nearly wrecked, for the pro- posal that the uniform rate should be one penny was negatived by six votes against three. A three-half- penny rate was then proposed, but rejected ; but a twoj)enny rate was finally adopted by the Committee, though this again was only carried by the Chairman's casting-vote. The report of the Committee therefore recommended the twopenny rate. To any persons interested in postal history, this long-forgotten blue book (Third Report of the Select Committee on Postage, 1838) will amply repay perusal. It was written by Mr. Henry Warburton, a member of the Parliamentary Committee, and a most earnest friend to the measure; and though in obedience to the vote of the Committee a twopenny rate is proposed, any one able to read between the lines can easily see that the facts and conclusions of that report undoubtedly show that the rate which ought logically to be adopted was the penny. Notwithstanding the favourable report of the Committee, the Grovernment were reluctant to move in the matter, and little, probably, would at that time have been done but for a lucky chapter of accidents. On the 9th April, 1839, Lord Melbourne's Grovern- ment brought in what is generally known as the Jamaica Bill — a Bill for suspending for five years the constitution of that colony. This measure was 23 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. strongly opposed by the Conservative party (led by Sir Eobert Peel), and by many of the Eadicals. On the second reading of the Bill, the Government only escaped defeat by the narrow majority of five votes. The Ministry thereupon resigned ; Sir Eobert Peel was sent for by Her Majesty, but owing to the " Bed- chamber Difficulty " failed to form a Grovernment. Lord Melbourne was recalled, and in the negotia- tions Avith the Eadical members for future support to his Government, the bargain was struck that that support should be given, provided Penny Postage was conceded. Thus one of the greatest social reforms ever introduced was, to speak plainly, given as a bribe by a tottering Government to secure political sup- port. The Act authorising the adoption of the Uniform Penny Postage system received Her Majesty's assent on the 17th of August, 1839, and, in order to carry it into effect. Sir Eowland Hill was appointed to a temporary ofiice in the Treasury ; a somewhat un- dignified attempt being made by the Government to get him to accept a salary wholly inadequate, under circumstances sufficiently explained in the following letter from his brother, Mr. Matthew Davenport Hill, whom he had consulted on the matter. This letter, it may be added, foreshadowed, with considerable accuracy, the difficulties with which the path of Postal Eeform was, for many years afterwards, con- stantly obstructed. 24 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. Leicester, Sept. 12, 1839. Dear Rowland, Before 1 give jou my opinion, I think it better to prevent the possibility of misapprehension, by putting in writing the heads of what you have reported to me as having occurred at the interview between the Chancellor of the Exchequer and yourself on Tuesday, respecting your pro- posed employment by the Government in carrying your jDlan of Post OfS.ce reform into operation. You state that Mr. Baring, having regard to what had been arranged between Lord Monteagle and himself, offered to engage your services for two years for the sum of £500 per annum; you, for that remuneration, under- taking to give up your whole time to the public service. That on your expressing surprise and dissatisfaction at this proposal, the offer was raised to £800, and subse- quently to £1000 per annum. You state that your answer to these proposals was, in substance, that you were quite willing to give your services gratuitously, or to postpone the question of remuneration until the experi- ment shall be tried ; but that you could not consent to enter upon such an undertaking on a footing in any way inferior to that of the Secretary to the Post Of&ce. You explained, you say, the object which you had in view in making this stipulation — you felt that it was a necessary stipulation to insure you full power to carry the measure into effect. I have carefully considered the whole matter in all its bearings, and I cannot raise in my mind a doubt of the propriety of your abiding by these terms ; and I will set down, as shortly as I can, the reasons which have occurred to me to show that the course you have taken was the only one really open to you. It is quite clear that to insure a fair trial for your plan you will require great powers ; that Ministers will not in- terfere with you themselves, nor, as far as they can pre- vent it, suffer you to be thwarted by others, I can readily 25 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. believe ; but I am not so sure of their power as I am of their g-ooclwill. You have excited great hostility at the Post Office — that we know as a matter of fact; but it must have been inferred if the fact had not been known. It is not in human nature that the gentlemen of the Post Office should view your plan with friendly eyes. If they are good-natured persons, as I dare say they are, they Avill forgive you in time ; but they have much to overlook. That a stranger should attempt to understand the arcana of our system of postage better than those whose duty it was to attain to such knowledge, was bad enough ; that he should succeed, was still worse ; but that he should persuade the country and the Parliament that he had succeeded is an offence very difficult to pardon. Now, you are called upon to undertake the task of carrying into action, through the agency of these gentlemen, what they have pronounced preposterous, wild, visionary, absurd, clumsy, and impracticable. They have thus pledged themselves, by a distinct prophecy, repeated over and over again, that the plan cannot succeed. I confess I hold in great awe prophets who may have the means of assisting in the fulfilment of their own predictions. Believe me, you will require every aid which Government, backed by the country, can give you to conquer these difficulties. You found it no easy task to defeat your opponents in the great struggle which is just concluded ; but what was that to what you are now called upon to effect ? no less an enterprise than to change your bitter enemies into hearty allies, pursuing your projects with goodwill, crushing difficulties instead of raising them, and using their practical knowledge, not to repel your suggestions and to embarrass your arrangements, but using the same knowledge in your behalf, aiding and assisting in those matters wherein long experience gives them such a great advantage over you, and which may be turned for or against you at the pleasure of the possessors. To try this great experiment, therefore, with a fair chance of success, it must be quite clear that you have 26 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. the confidence of the Government ; and that can only be shown by then' advancing you to an equality, at least, with the jDrincipal executive officer among those with whose habits and prejudices you must of necessity so much and so perpetually interfere. Have you made Mr. Baring sufficiently aware of the numerous — I might say numberless — innovations, which your plan of necessity implies? The reduction of postage and the modes of prepayment are, no doubt, the principal features of your plan ; but you lay great stress, and very properly, in my opinion, on increasing the facilities for transmitting letters ; and this part of the reform will, I apprehend, cause you more labour of detail than that which more strikes the public eye. In this department you will be left to contend with the Post Office almost alone. It will be very easy to raise plausible objections to your measures, of which Ministers can hardly be supposed to be com- petent judges, either in respect of technical information or of leisure for inquiry. Neither would the public, even if you had the means and inclination to appeal to it^ give you assistance in matters upon which you could never fix its attention. But your personal weight and importance as compared with that of others who it is reasonable to believe will, in the first instance at least, be opposed to you, will be measured very much by comparison of salary. We may say what we will, but Englishmen are neither aristocratic nor democratic, but chrysocratic (to coin a word) . Tour salary will, therefore, if you have one at all, fix your position in the minds of every functionary of the Post Office, from the Postmaster-General to the bellman, both inclusive. But though I see these insuperable objections to your accepting either of the salaries which have been offered, I will not advise you (and you would reject such advice if I gave it) to embarrass the Government, if there be any difficulty, which there may be unknown to us, in the way of their either giving you a higher salary, or postponing 27 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. the question of remuneration until the end of the two jears. Your offer made on the spur of the moment, to surrender your present appointment, and work for the public without salary, though it does look somewhat " wild and visionary •"' at first sight, yet after a long and careful reflection upon it, I distinctly advise you to renew, and more than that, I seriously hope it will be accepted. Your fortune, though most men would consider it very small, is enough to enable you to live two years without additional income; and I feel certain that the Govern- ment and the country will do you and your family justice in the end ; but suppose I should be mistaken, and that you never receive a shilling for either your plan or your services in carrying it into operation, I should be very glad to change places with you, and so would thousands of your countrymen, if, on taking your labours and priva- tions, they could also feel conscious of your merit. I remain, &c., M. D. Hill. With reference to this letter, it is only right to add that Mr. (afterwards Sir) Francis Baring at once recognised the soundness of the views expressed therein, overruled all official objections, and placed Sir Eowland Hill's appointment on a proper footing. To Sir Francis Baring, for his cordial support through a period of great difficulty. Sir Eowland Hill was deeply indebted. Many years after, when an old man, Sir Francis Baring stated that nothing gave him more satisfaction, when looking back upon his career, than the part he had taken in helping on the cause of Penny Postage. On the 10th January, 1840, the Uniform Penny Postage System came into operation. Of the end- 28 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. less difficulties Sir Eowland Hill had to encounter in forcing his reforms down the throats of the authorities at St. Martin' s-le-Grand, we need not here give any account. The story is told in the Life of Sir Rowland Hill published about seven years ago ; and the complete success of his postal scheme is now everywhere fully recognised. It should, however, be stated that in 1842 the hostility of certain officials to the new reform rose to such a pitch that — by means which even at this length of time it would hardly be safe to describe — Sir Robert Peel's Grovernment (then in power) was coerced into putting an end to Sir Rowland Hill's engagement at the Treasury. This was terminated in September, 1842; the excuse publicly given by the Grovernment for so doing being that the new postal system was then working so well that Sir Rowland Hill's services were no longer necessary. As was characteristically stated by Thomas Hood at the time, " it would never surprise him, after such an instance of folly and ingratitude, to hear of the railway people some day, finding their trains running so well, proposing to discharge the engines." With profuse expressions of the high sense the Government entertained of his personal character, and of the value of the services he had rendered to the public. Sir R. Hill was politely bowed out of office, and the new postal system handed over to the tender mercies of its worst enemies. By the public this ungracious act was strongly 29 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. resented, and when, in 1S46, Lord John EusselFs Government came into power, a staff appointment at the Post Office was offered to Sir Rowland Hill, and accepted by him (though at a serious personal sacri- fice), in order that he might complete his reforms. Gradually official opposition died away (or was confined to small cliques, more or less troublesome, within the department), old opponents became con- verted into zealous helpers, postal reform sped swiftly on, and the minute of the Treasury on the occasion of Sir Rowland Hill resigning the Secretaryship of the Post Office in 1864 — which we here append — shows how cordially his services were at last recognised even in the official world itself. Copy of Treasury Minute granting a Special Superan- nuation Allowance to Sir Rowland Hill, K.C.B., Secretary to the General Post Oeeice. Tkeasuhy Minute, dated 11th March, 1864. Eead letter from Sir Rowland Hill, K.C.B., dated tlie 29th February, stating that six months' absence having elapsed without any satisfactory results as regards the state of his health, he has now no course left but to resign his appointment as Secretary to the Post Office. Read also letter from the Postmaster-General of the instant, stating that Sir Rowland Hill has in consequence of the state of his health been compelled to retire from the public service, and bearing his testimony to the eminent services which Sir Rowland Hill has rendered. The retirement of Sir Rowland Hill from the office of Secretary 30 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. to the Post Office would, if treated under the ordinary machinery of the Superannuation Act, afford to my Lords the power of granting him no more than a pension of =£566 13s. 4d., or at the utmost £666 13s. id., but it supplies, in the judgment of my Lords, an occasion of peculiar fitness for calluag into action the 9 th or special clause of the Superannuation Act, and thus, by a proceeding which marks their sense of his services, of drawing to those ser\'ices the atteiation of Parliament. The period during which Sir Rowland Hill has held office, either by a temporary or a permanent appointment, is but little in excess of 20 years ; yet my Lords have to regret that while he remains full as ever of ability, energy, and resources, and of dis- position to expend them for the public good, the state of his health, due, without doubt, in great part to his indefatigable labours, compels him to solicit a retirement. It is not, however, by length of service that the merits and claims of such a man are to be measured. It is not even by any acknowledgment or reward which the Executive Government, in the exercise of the powei-s confided to it, can confer. The postal system, one of the most powerful organs which modern civilisation has placed at the command of Government, has, mainly under the auspices and by the agency of Sir Eowland Hill, been, within the last quarter of a century, not merely im- proved, but transformed. The letters transmitted have increased nearly nine-fold, and have been carried at what may be estimated as little more than one-ninth of the former charge. In numerous respects convenience has been consulted and provided for even more than cheapness. Upon the machinery for the transmission of letters there have been grafted other schemes, which, at a former period, would justly have been deemed visionary, for the transmission of books ■with other printed matter, and of money, and for receiving and storing the savings of the people. While these arduous duties have been undertaken, the con- dition of the persons employed in this vast department has been improved, and, could attention be adequately drawn to what lies 31 • THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. beneath the surface, my Lords are persuaded that the methods of communication by letter which are now in action have produced for the mass of the population social and moral benefits which might well have thro^vn even these brilliant results into the shade. As respects purely fiscal interests, advantages so great as those which have been recited were, of course, not to be obtained with- out some efibrt or sacrifice. But the receipts on account of postal service, which on the first adoption of the change were reduced by above a million sterling, have now more than recovered them- selves, and if computed on the same basis as under the old system, the gross sum realised is about £3,870,000, instead of £2,346,000, and the net about £1,790,000, in lieu of £1,660,000 ; at the same time, contraband iii letters may be stated to have ceased, and instead of a stationary revenue, such as that derived from letters between 1815 and 1835, the State has one which is steadily and even rapidly progressive. My Lords do not forget that it has been by the powerful agency of the railway system that these results have been ren- dered practicable. Neither do they enter into the question, as foreign to the occasion, what honour may be due to those who, before the development of the plans of Sir Rowland Hill, urged the adoption of the uniform pemiy postage.* Nor are they insensible to the fact that the co-operation of many able public servants has been essential to the work performed. But after all j ustice has been done to others. Sir Rowland Hill is beyond doubt the person to whom it was given to surmount every kind of obstacle, and to bring what had been theretofore matter of speculation into the world of practice, without whom the country would not have enjoyed the boon, or would only have enjoyed it at a later date, and to whom, accordingly, its enjoyment may justly be deemed due. Nor is it in this country alone that are to be perceived the happy fruits of his labours ; the recognition of his * For con-ection of this error, see Sh- E. Hill's reply subjoined. 32 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO, plans has spread with a rapidity to be accounted for only by their excellence from land to land, and truly may now be said to have met with acceptance throughout the civilised world. Under these circumstances, it may justly be averred that my Lords are dealing on the present occasion with the case not merely of a meritorious public servant, but of a benefactor of his I'ace ; and that his fitting reward is to be found not in this or tiiat amount of pension, but in the grateful recollection of his country. But my Lords discharge the portion of duty which belongs to them, Avith cordial satisfaction, in awarding to Sir Kowland Hill, for life, his full salary of £2,000 per annum. Let a co-py of this Minute be laid before Parliament. Transmit copy to the Postmaster-General, with a request that it may be communicated to Sir Rowland Hill. Hampstead, iTth March, 1864. My Lords, — The Postmaster-General, as requested by your Lordships, has done me the favour to furnish me with a copy of your Minute of 11th instant, granting me a special superannuation allowance on retiring from my office as Secretary to the Post Office, and conveying to me the very favourable opinion, which your Lordships are pleased to express, of the manner in which I have discharged my duties. It cannot be necessary to assure your Lordships of the deep gratification with which I have received so handsome and elaborate a recognition of my services. I have only to beg that you will be pleased to accept my most respectful thanks. In a document so highly complimentary, I hesitate to notice what would appear to be an admission, inadvertently made, to the effect that the adoption of the uniform penny postage was urged by others before the development of my plans. This, I p 33 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. assure your Lordships, is an error ; and, as uniformity of rate constitutes the main feature of my plan, I am naturally anxious to place before you the real facts of the case. I trust, therefore, you will pardon me if I request attention to the enclosed memorandum on the subject. I need scarcely add, that should the expectations of my medical friends, of improved health from rest, be realised, and any occasion arise in which it may appear to your Lordships that my assistance or advice in further postal improvements may be of advantage, I shall feel honoured by being permitted to place them at your disposal. I have, &c., Rowland Hill. Tfie Right Ho)wurahle the Lords Commissioners of Her Mfijesty^s Treasury, fe. ^e. ^c. Memorandum. A low and uniform rate of postage forms the most essential feature of my plan of postal reform, and I have no hesitation in stating that its conception originated wholly with myself. To guard against future error, I ask permission to place on record a brief statement of facts. The principle of uniformity of rate, now that it has been in successful operation for nearly a quarter of a century, appears, perhaps, simple and obvious ; but so far from its having been, as it is sometimes supposed, the happy thought of a moment, it was the result of most laborious investigation on my part. Indeed, a slight consideration will show that its conception necessarily involved a previous discovery, viz., that the cost per letter of mere transit within the limits of the United Kingdom was practically inappreciable, or, at least, that it was not dependent mainly on distance, being, in fact, quite as much dependent on the number of letters contained in the particular mail as on 34 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. the distance that mail was carried. Indeed, it was shown from careful investigation that the cost of mere conveyance, even for so great a distance as from London to Edinburgh, was only the 36th part of a penny per letter. From this and other facts it followed that a uniform rate was more just tlian one varying according to distance. The convenience of uniformity was obvious. I may add that when I first entered on the investigations preparatory to the construction of my plan, I myself had no conception of the practicability of a uniform rate ; and that the discovery referi'ed to above was as startling to myself, as it proved when announced to the pu.blic at large. A reference to my original pamphlet, a copy of which is, I presume, still in your Lordship's possession, or to my evidence before the Select Committee of 18-38, appointed to inquire into the practicability of my plans, will show the various steps by which I aiTived at the conclusion that a uniform penny rate was at once just and practicable. There is but one other person, so far as I am aware, to whom the suggestion of a uniform penny rate has, with even the slightest plausibility, ever been assigned — I refer to the late Mi\ Wallace, formerly Member for Greenock, and Chairman of the Select Committee on Postage in 1838 ; but though Mr. Wallace fre- quently urged, among other useful reforms, a great reduction in the postal chai"ges, I can say from personal knowledge that he had no idea whatever of a uniform rate until after the publication of my pamphlet. Indeed, this sufficiently appears from his speech in Pai'liament in July, 1836, the last occasion on which, before the publication of my pamphlet, he referred to the rates of postage. The following is an extract from "Hansard" (vol. 35, 3d series, p. 422) :— ***** " At the same time the rates of postage ought to be reduced. It would be proper not to charge more than Sd. for any letter sent a distance of 50 miles; for 100 miles, id. ; 200 miles, 6d. ; D 2 35 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. and the highest rate of postage ought not to be more than 8d. or 9d. at most," ***** Further evidence upon this point is also in my possession, which can be submitted, should it be deemed necessary. Rowland Hill. Sampstcad, 17 th March, 1864. In reply to this the Treasury at once assured Sir Eowland Hill that they had had no intention what- ever of questioning the originality of his scheme of postal reform.* [With reference to the above memorandum, it may be useful to state that ever since the Uniform Penny Postage became an admitted success, numerous claimants — generally insane — have come forward from time to time, each asserting that he, and not Sir Eowland Hill, was the real originator of the plan, or of some of its essential features. Similar claims — mostly founded on some hallucination — are constantly forthcoming to every important improvement. No one, however, has yet explained what could have induced all these early postal reformers, without one single exception, to adopt the extraordinary course of carefully destroying every shred of documentary evidence which would have been useful in establish- ing their claims ; not one of them having been able to produce a single published document, containing his supposed-to-be-similar suggestions, which is not * Life of Sir Rowland Hill and History of Penny Postage, Vol. II., p. 394. 36 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. of much later date than Sir Eowland's Hill's pam- phlet of February, 1837. Probably these claimants, if they ever really devised anything, never published their ideas ; but if that be the case, valuable sugges- tions never published are worth no more to the public than good advice never given, and any claims founded thereon are too absurd to deserve attention.] Besides the Treasury minute above quoted, other cordial recognitions of his services were showered upon Sir Eowland Hill on his retirement. Her Majesty had, a short time before, been graciously pleased to confer upon him the dignity of a Knight Commander of the Bath. The Society of Arts, through the hands of the Prince of Wales, presented him with the Albert Grold Medal — the first ever conferred. From Oxford he received the honorary dignity of D.C.L. ; from Parliament a grant of £20,000 and full salary as a pension for the remainder of his life. Birmingham, and, later on, Kidderminster (his native town) and London, erected a statue in his honour. Liverpool and other towns presented him with valuable testimonials of their regard; amongst other such gifts was one to which he attached especial value — viz., a pair of china vases, made by the workmen of the Staffordshire potteries, who, when they knew for whom the vases were intended, had, at their own request, given their labour and skill without any remuneration. Sir Rowland Hill lived in quiet retirement at 37 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. Hampstead more than fifteen years after he had left the Post Office. Just a few months before his death the Corporation of London, on the motion of Mr. Washington Lyon, conferred upon liim the Freedom of the City, giving a double grace to the honour by adopting, in consequence of his failing health, the hitherto unprecedented course of dispensing with his personal attendance at Gruildhall, and appointing a special deputation to present it to him at his own residence. Peacefully and painlessly he passed away in his 84th year, on the 27th of August, 1879, and was buried in Westminster Abbey by the side of James Watt ; and in concluding this portion of our notice, we can hardly do better than quote the admirable poem in which, turning as he sometimes does from lighter to more serious thoughts, Mr. Punch ex- pressed the feelings of the world at large. IN MEMORIAM. Eotolantr ItU. Okiginator of Cheap Postage. Born at Eidderministcr, Dec. 3rd, 1795. Died at Hampstead, Aug. '21th, 1879. Buried in Westminster Abbey, by the side of James Watt, Thursday, September ith. No question this of worthy's right to lie With England's worthiest, by the grave of him Whose brooding brain brought under mastery The wasted strength of the Steam- giant grim. 38 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. Like labours — his who tamed by sea and land Power, Space, and Time, to needs of human kind, That bodies might be stronger, nearer hand, And his who multiplied mind's links with mind, Breaking the barriers that, of different height For rich and poor, were barriers still for all. Till " out of mind " was one with "out of sight," And parted souls oft parted past recall ; Freeing from tax unwise the interchange Of distant mind with mind and mart with mart ; Releasing thought from bars that clipped its range ; Lightening a load felt most i' the weakest part. What if the wings he made so strong and wide Bear burdens with their blessings 1 Own that all For which his bold thought we oft hear decried, Of laden bag, too frequent postman's call. Is nothing to the threads of love and light Shot, thanks to him, through life's web dark and wide. Nor only where he first unsealed men's sight. But far as pulse of time and flow of tide ! Was it a little thing to think this out 1 Yet none till he had hit upon the thought ; And, the thought brought to birth, came sneer and flout Of all his insight saw, his wisdom taught ; All office-doors were closed against him — hard ; All office heads were closed against him too. He had but worked, like others, for reward." " The thing was all a dream." " It would not do." But this was not a vaguely dreaming man, A wind-bag of the known Utopian kind ; He had thought out, wrought out, in full, his plan ; 'Twas the far-seeing fighting with the blind : 39 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. And the far-seeing won his way, at last, Though pig-headed Obstruction's force died hard ; Denied his due, official bitters cast Into the cup wrung slowly from their guard. But not until the Country, wiser far Than those that ruled it, with an angry cry, Seeing its soldiers 'gainst it waging war, At last said resolutely, " Stand you by ! " And let him in to do what he has said. And you do not, and will not let him do." And so at last the fight he fought was sped. Thought at less cost freer and farther flew. And all the world was kindlier closer knit, And all man's written word can bring to man Had easier ways of transit made for it. And none sat silent under poortith's ban When severed from his own, as in old days. And this we owe to one sagacious brain. By one kind heart well-guided, that in ways Of life laborious sturdy strength had ta'en. And his reward came, late, but sweeter so. In the wide sway that his wise thought had won ; He was as one whose seed to tree should grow. Who hears him blest that sowed it 'gainst the sun. So love and honour made his grey hairs bright. And while most things he hoped to fulness came, And many ills he warred with were set right. Good work and good life joined to crown his name. And now that he is dead, we see how great The good work done, the good life lived how brave, And through all crosses hold him blest of fate. Placing this wreath upon his honoured grave ! 40 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. CONCLUSION. LATER IMPROVEMENTS. Not the least important of the reforms Sir Rowland Hill effected was the transformation of St. Martin's-le- Grand from a sort of official " Sleepy Hollow " into a department taking a just pride in the efficiency of the postal service, and eagerly and constantly seeking to extend its usefulness. The good that men do lives after them, and Sir Eowland Hill's views and prin- ciples — once regarded by the Department as "wild, visionary, and absurd " — have long become its funda- mental rules, and daily receive practical recognition. By weeding the office, as far as ]30ssible, of the State's " bad bargains ; " by steadily encouraging efficiency and zealous service wherever found; by taking care that in all promotions advancement should be regulated solely by superior efficiency, no regard whatever being given to political or private influence. Sir R. Hill succeeded in training up a staff of officers well capable of continuing the great work he had originated. Since his resignation in 1864, the whole of Europe, Canada, the United States, Egypt, and many other important places, have been included in a Postal Union, throughout which letters may be sent for a uniform rate of 2^d. per half ounce — a marvellous change in the direction of simplicity and cheapness ; and before long we hope India, Australia, and indeed 41 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. our whole Colonial Empire, may be enjoying the same great advantage. Looking nearer home we find that in place of the single daily communication with London, towns like Liverpool, Manchester, and Brighton receive as many as seven such dispatches daily — many other towns receiving four or five — while even to those places, so remote from London, that letters sent could not be delivered the same day (and where, therefore, very frequent dispatches would be useless), two, and in some cases three, mails daily have been established. Town and suburban deliveries have been greatly in- creased in frequency and rapidity, and additional facilities are constantly being afforded. In the year ending 31st March, 1886 — the latest for which the Postmaster-General's Eeport has as yet been issued — 371 new Post Offices and 860 pillar and wall boxes were established, or, roughly speaking, four new Post Offices of one sort or another were opened every work- ing day throughout that year. The result of these long-continued improvements — powerfully assisted of course by the extension of the Eailway system — has been enormously to increase the amount of correspondence. The 76^ millions of chargeable letters delivered in the United Kingdom under the old system in 1839, had expanded in the year 1885-6 to a gross total, including post-cards, of nearly 1,575 millions, or more than twenty -fold the former number. In place of 44j millions of newspapers transmitted 42 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. by post, as in 1839, the annual number is now more than 147^ millions, and if we add to these the 342 millions of Book -packets and circulars, and the 26 t millions of articles sent last year by Parcel Post, the total number of missives transmitted through the Post Office annually for delivery in the United King- dom (exclusive therefore of outward Foreign and Colonial mails) reaches the goodly total of more than 2,091 millions. The gross revenue is now fourfold, and the net revenue double its former amount — pretty fair results from a plan no portion of which could, in the opinion of the old postal officials, be adopted with advantage either to the public or to the revenue ! Among other great improvements in the Post Office, the establishment of Post Office Savings Banks, originally proposed by Sir Charles W. S3^kes, manager of the Huddersfield Banking Company, the cheapening of the telegraph service, and the estab- lishment of the Parcel Post are too obvious to need more than a passing allusion, though they furnish abundant evidence of the sturdy growth and strong vitality of that beneficent measure of " Post Office Peform " of Avhich, just fifty years ago, the " import- ance and practicability " were first made manifest. The contrast between the old and new postal systems in all matters affecting social intercourse, has perhaps never been placed in a more striking light 43 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. than in the following letter from Miss Harriet Mar- tineau to Sir Thomas Wilde, M.P. (afterwards Lord Truro), who, at the time it was written, was drawing the attention of Parliament to the difficulties which official jealousy was placing in the way of Postal Eeform. This letter gives a vivid picture of the happiness which the Penny Postage system, even in its then imperfect state, had conferred almost at a burst upon the public, and especially upon the poorer classes. THE BENEFITS OF PENNY POSTAaE. Letter prom Miss Harriet Martineau to Sir Thomas Wilde, M.P. Tynemouth, \bth May, 18-i3. Sir, — While testimonies to the effect of Post Office reform on the interests of Commerce, Science, Literature, &c., abound, the merits of this reform seem to me to be still left half untold. The benefits it confers on social and domestic interests exceed, in my opinion, the whole sum of the rest. We hear less of this class of results than of others — partly because they are of a delicate natui'e, involving feelings which individuals shrink from laying open, and partly because they are so universal (where the privilege of cheap postage extends), that it seems to be no one's especial business to declare them ; but there can be no doubt that this class of blessings is felt with a keenness and a depth of gratitude which, if they could only find expression, would over- whelm the author of this reform with a sense of the magnitude of his own work. The first mournful event in the life of a happy family of the middle and lower classes — the family dispersion — is softened, has, indeed, assumed a new aspect within the last four yeai's. When the sons go forth into the world to prepare themsehes for a 44 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEAKS AGO. vocation, ov to assume it, the parting from parents and sisters is no longer what it was, from the sense of sejmration being so much lessened. Formerly, the monthly or fortnightly letter — a stated expense, to be incurred only with regularity, and the communica- tion itself confined to a single sheet — had nothing of the familiarity of correspondence. At present, when on any occasion, on the slightest prompting of inclination, the youth can pour out his mind to his best friends — no sudden check upon family confidence being imposed, and no barrier becoming gradually erected by in- frequency of intercourse — the moral dangers of a young man's entrance upon life are incalculably lessened. In the preservation of access to parents and home, many thou- sands of young men are provided with a safeguard, for want of which many thousands formerly became aliens from family interests, and thereby outcasts from the innocence and confidence of home. The State has the closest interest in the rectitude and purity of its rising citizens, and therefore the public gratitude is due to a measure which promotes them ; but when it is considered that the general sense of access to home which young men now carry abroad puts new valour into the heart of the brave — new reliance into that of the timid — that it encourages the enterprising, rouses the indolent, and, in short, bi-ings all the best influences of the old life to bear upon the new, it is clear that the State must be better sei^ved in proportion to the improved power and comfort of its rising race of men. Not less certain is the benefit to the daughters of the indus- trious classes. If the governesses of this country (in whose hands rest much of the moral destiny of another generation) could speak of the influence of this reform ujDon their lot, what shovild we not hear of the blessing of access to home 1 We should hear of parents' advice and sympathy obtained when needed most ; of a daily sense of support from the scarcely ideal presence of mother or brother; of nights of sleep obtained by the disburdening of cares ; of relief from the worst experience of poverty (however small the actual means may be) while expense is no longer the irritating hindrance of speech, the infliction which makes the listening parent deaf, and the full-hearted daughter dumb. When we look somewhat lower, and regard the classes which furnish hundreds of thousands of workwomen, of dressmakers, of sliop- 45 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. women, and domestic servants, the benefits of this access to home become clearly inestimable. Society seems to be awakening to a sense of the hardship of ill-requited labour — of the extreme scantiness of the recompense of the toil of women especially. However grievous the hardship may be, the case was worse when the solitary worker felt her aflections crushed — felt as if forsaken under an enforced family silence. Far more important is the opening of the Post Office to hundreds and thousands of these industrious workers than an increase of earnings would be ; for the restoration of access to home, which might then be an expen- sive indulgence, is now a matter of course for all ; a benefit en- joyed without hesitation or remorse. Now while they can spare a few pence from the supply of their urgent wants, they can retain their place in afiection and self-respect beside the family hearth, and who shall say to how many this privilege has been equivalent to peace of mind — in how many cases to the preserva- tion of innocence and a good name 1 Then, again, how many are the sick-rooms of this country, and how many of the active members of society are interested in each sick-room 1 Among the richer classes, if any member of a family is ill, the I'est can come together and await the event. Not so in the wide-spreading working classes. There, whatever may be their anxieties, families must remain asunder. For the most part the absent members were, till lately, obliged to be patient under a weekly bulletin, or if more frequent accounts were indulged in, the expense was a heavy aggravation of the cost of illness, and was indeed in large families out of the question. Look at the difference now ! How much more allowable is a daily bulletin now than a weekly one was then ; and though the sick are few in comparison with the numbers who have an interest in them, they are numerous enough, particularly if we include the aged and infirm, to deserve consideration for themselves. Who can imagine the importance of the post hour, in these days, to the sick and sufi'ering ? Who does not know that to a multitude of these sufferers post time is the brightest season of the day 1 Indeed, an entii-ely new alleviation, a most salutary source of cheerfulness, has been let into the sick-i'oom by the new Post Office arrangement. It would be a blessing if only a few sufierere were enriched with a flow of family and friendly correspondence, not only of letters but of drawings, books, music, flowers, seeds, 46 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY TEARS AGO. and bouquets — of all the little gifts that the Post Office can convey. It would be agreeable that a small adoi-nment of such graces should accompany the grand utilities of the system, but when it is considered to what an extent this benefit spreads, that not a day of any year passes that a multitude of sick and infirm are not thus cheered, these humanities and graces command a gratitude seldom due on so large a scale. Then, again, there is a diffusion of the advantages gained by one member of a family or society, so that the recompense of one person's talents or merits becomes a benefit to many. If one member of a family attains a position in literature, or any other pursuit which gives him a command of information or other interests, he needs no longer to confine it to himself for want of means to communicate the luxury. The infirm father, the blind mother, whose pleasures are becoming fewer and fewer, may now not only enjoy the fame of an eminent son and daughter as a matter of complacency, but may share that portion of the results which consists in correspondence. Instead of the weekly letter of one single sheet, there comes now a frequent packet, enclosing letters from all parts of the world — tidings on a host of subjects of interest, political, scientific, or literary— a wealth of ideas to occupy the weary mind, and of pleasures wherewith to refresh the sleepless afiections. As for the advantages of a more business-like character arising from the present facilities for the transmission of family letters and papers, they are so great as to defy description, and so obvious as not to need it. Some persons seem to think all these considerations of too private and delicate a character to be openly connected with any fiscal aiTangement. The more unusual such a connexion the more carefully, in my opinion, should it be exhibited. The more infrequent the occasions when a Government can, by its fiscal arrangements, directly promote the social and domestic virtue and happiness of a whole people, and engage its gratitude and aftection, the more eagerly should such occasions be embraced. The present is such a one as, I imagine, has never before presented itself in the history of legislation. The best that one can ordinarily say in regard to revenue arrangements is that they produce the smallest practicable amount of evil, and that that amount of evil ought to be cheerfully boi-ne for the sake of the indispensable object. 47 THE POST OFFICE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. Very difFerent is the case of the new postage. By the same means which are yeai-ly augmenting the revenue, there is a strengthening of social and domestic charities. The same arrange- ments which carry more money into the Treasury, which stimulate commerce and encourage science and literature, serve to expand the influences of home, and to repeal for the dispersed the sen- tence of banishment from the best influences of life. From this sti'ong and honourable peculiarity our new Post Office system will, I imagine, take rank in history above all fiscal arrangements of any former time. It will stand alone as being not only tolerated and obeyed, but as having won for Government a gratitude and attachment such as no otlier single measure could win, and such as will deepen with every passing year. My own belief is that at this moment such grateful attachment is already a set-off against a large measure of disaffection, partial and imperfect as is, as yet, the working of the system. As regards the author of the penny postage system, I know, of my own knowledge, that a multitude of persons are, like myself, really oppressed by the sense of obligation as yet almost un- acknowledged and wholly unrequited. The personal obligations of every one of us are heavy, but when we think of the amount of blessing he has conferred on the morals and affections of a whole people, of the number of innocent persons and sufferers cheered by the knowledge spread abroad and human happiness promoted by his single hand, we are led to question whether an}^ one member of society ever before discharged so much of the functions at once of the pulpit, the press, the parent, the phy- sician, and the I'uler — ever in so short a time benefited his nation so vastly, or secured so unlimited a boon to the subjects of an empire ; and when other nations shall have adopted his reforms, there may be an extension even of this praise. I am, Sir, yours respectfully, Harriet Martineau. Sir Thomas Wilde, M.T. We now place a facsimile of Sir Eowland Hill's pamphlet in our readers' hands. 48 POST OFFICE REFORM; IMPORTANCE PRACTICABILITY. BY EOWLAND HILL. "Tlic facility of frciiucut, punctual, and quick coiuinunication, wliicb the Institution of the Post Office was calculated to secure, may be justly classed among the elements of profitable commerce It is essential to the purposes of government, and subservient to all the ends of national policy." Eighteenth Eeport of the Commissioners ofEevenne Inquiry, lS2y. "The principle of the Post Office at its establishment, as is distinctly laid down in the 12th Charles II., was to afford advautagc to trade and commerce. The direct revenue to be derived from the Post Office was not the primary consideration." Report on the Post Office by Lord Loivther. " Wc have sufficiently informed ourselves on this suliject to be satisfied that an alteration in the present system is absolutely necessary." Fourth Report on the Post Office, by the present Commissioners o Inquiry, LONDON : PUBLISHED BY CHARLES KNIGHT AND CO, 22, LUDGATE STREET. 1837. PHEFACE. A SxMALL edition of this little pamphlet was printed, and privately circulated, early in the month of January. It is unnecessary to trouble the reader with the reasons for adopting this course, but I may remark, that it has been productive of one important advantage, — it has enabled me to submit my plans to the consideration of many able men, who, either from attention to the particular subject, from skill in organization, or from extensive commercial know- ledge, are eminently qualified to judge of the practicability of the measures proposed. Their examination has led to some important improve- ments, which, while the}'- remove certain difficulties that attached to the plan in its original form, tend still further to simplify the proposed mechanism. These modifications are given in the present edition. Doubts as to the well working of certain parts of the plan, even in its present form, have certainly been expressed by some whose opinion I esteem very highly ; such parts have consequently under- gone a laborious and anxious re-examination ; and E 2 IV PREFACE. have, in the present edition, been treated more fully than in the former. Knowing that I alone am re- sponsible for the practicability of the plans which I have suggested, I should have considered it my duty to reject every alteration, by w4iomsoever recommended, the reasons for w^hich did not satisfy my own mind. Fortunately, however, in each instance in which I have not been convinced by the arguments in favour of a proposed modification of the plan, my own opinion has been confirmed by a majority of those who have kindly interested them- selves in the matter. The cordial reception which the plan, as a whole, has hitherto met with, has tended to confirm my conviction of its practicability and importance ; and it is now submitted to the more severe ordeal of public opinion, in the confident hope that it will receive that candid, though searching, examination which should ever attend the pursuit of truth. Such an examination I respectfully invite from the public press ; well knowing that however it may aflfect the plan here put forth, it cannot but greatly promote the object I have in view, which is not to establish the merits of any peculiar system of management, but to lead to the adoption of the best system, whatever that may be, and thus to render the Post OjB&ce efficient in the highest degree. Fortunately this is not a party question. "Whether PREFACE. V considered in reference to the remission of taxation, to the extension of commerce, the promotion of friendly intercourse, or the advancement of educa- tion, it is interesting to aU. An objection to the proposed plan, which has reached me- from an unknown quarter, is too remark- able to be passed over without notice: it is, that the number of letters under the proposed arrangements would be increased so enormously as to render their distribution impossible. I have reckoned upon a great augmentation of the Post Office business, as affording the means for lowering the rate of postage and increasing the facilities for the transmission of letters. The ob- jector so far outruns my expectations as to convert that which I consider a matter of gratulation into a subject for apprehension. It seems to me that the Post Office must neces- sarily be considered as in a defective state, unless it is capable of distributing all the letters which the people of the country can have SiHj motive for writing ; at least in ordinary seasons, and under ordinary circumstances ; therefore, if at any time the means employed by the Post Office prove insufficient, they should be forthwith increased. If the objector can be supposed to mean that the PREFACE. number of letters will probably become so great that no practicable increase of the Post Office establish- ment will be sufficient for their distribution, I may remark upon so extraordinary a supposition, that I never yet heard of a merchant, a manufacturer, or a trader, possessed of sufficient capital and other adequate means, being frightened lest his business should become too large. To go a step further, how ridiculous would it seem should a joint-stock com- pany, with ample capital, an able direction, and active and intelligent agents, decline the undertaking they had proposed to themselves, upon discovering that they must expect an unprecedented demand for the objects of their operations. With national resources, the transaction of any conceivable amount of Post Office business must be easy; and let it not be forgotten, that under able direction, the more extensive the business, the more systematically it may be conducted, and, consequently, with greater effect, economy, and facility. The nation can always command the services of men of first rate ability; let that be done, and then we may safely rest assured that all visionary obstacles will at once disappear, and that real difficulties will be vigorously grappled with, and in time overcome. However, it is always well to have a dernier ressort. If, unluckily, an epidemical passion for PREFACE. Vll letter writing should rage to sucli a degree as to overpower all ordinary and extraordinary means of control, even let the pent up spirit lift the safety valve and expand itself in freedom. Or, in more staid language, no longer confine the puhlic to the use of the Post Office, but allow letter -vsaiters to choose a mode of transmission for themselves. 2, Burton Crescent, Feb. 22, 1837. POST OFFICE REFORM. The last quarterly accounts show that the present revenue of the country greatly exceeds the expendi- ture; there is therefore reason to hope that a re- duction of taxation may shortly take place. In the reductions which have heretofore been made, the gain to the public and the loss to the revenue have varied greatly in relation to each other. Thus in the repeal of the house duty, the gain to the public and the loss to the revenue were practically equal ; while the remission of one-half of the duties on soap and leather eventually diminished the pro- ductiveness of each tax by about one- third only; a reduction of about 28 per cent, in the malt tax has lessened the produce of that tax by only two or three per cent. ; and in the instance of coffee, a reduction in the duty of 50 per cent, has actually been accom- panied by an increase of more than 50 per cent, in its produce. ? POST OFFICE REFORM. These facts show that when a reduction of taxation is about to take place, it is exceedingly important that great care and judgment should be exercised in the selection of the tax to be reduced, in order that the maximum of relief may be afforded to the public, with the minimum of injury to the revenue. The best test to apply to the several existing taxes for the discovery of the one which may be reduced most extensively, with the least proportionate loss to the revenue, is probably this : excluding from the examination those taxes, the produce of which is greatly affected by changes in the habits of the people, as the taxes on spirits, tobacco, and hair-powder, let each be examined as to whether its productiveness has kept pace with the increasing numbers and jDrosperity of the nation. And that tax which proves most defective under this test is, in all probability, the one we are in quest of. If this test be applied to the principal branches of the revenue, it will be found that the tax on the transmission of letters is the most remarkable for its non-increasing productiveness. A mere glance at the following table must satisfy every one that there is something extremely wrong in this tax as it now stands. COMPARATIVF. DIMINUTION OF REVENUE. TABLE sliowing the Net Revenue actually obtained from the Post Office, for every fifth Year, from 1815 to 1835 inclusive ; also the Revenue which would have been ob- tained, had the Receipts kept pace loith the Increase of Population, {the Rate of which increase, since 1831, is assumed to be the same as from 1821 to 1831.) Year. Population. Net I'evenue ac- tually obtained. Revemie which would have been obtained had the receipts kept pace with the increase of population from 1S15. Comparative loss. 1815 1820 1825 1830 1835 19,552,000 20,928,000 22,362,000 23,961,000 25,605,000 £ 1,557,291 1,479,547 1,670,219 1,517,952 1,540,300 £ 1,557,291 1,674,000 1,789,000 1,917,000 2,048,000 £ 194,453 118,781 399,048 507,700 It appears, then, that during the last twenty years, the absolute revenue derived from the Post Office has slightly diminished; whereas, if it had kept pace with the growth of population, there would have been an increase of £507,700 per annum. As com- pared with the population, then, the Post Office revenue has fallen off to the extent of more than half a million per annum; but if the extension of education, and the increasing trade and prosperity of the country, during this period, be taken into account, there can be no doubt that the real deficit is even much greater. The extent of this loss will probably be best estimated by comparing the Post Office revenue with that actually derived from some tax which, while less exorbitant, is in other respects liable to POST OFFICE REFORM. nearly as possible the same influences. The tax upon stage coaches obviously falls under these conditions. Allowing the great increase in steam navigation * as a set-ofF against the slight diminution in the duty on post-horses, which might be considered as im- pairing the correctness of this comparison, let us proceed to the consideration of the following table, which shows the net produce of the stage-coach duty for every fifth year, from 1815 to 1835 inclusive; together with the net revenue actually derived from the Post Office during the same time ; as also the amount which would have been obtained had the receipts increased at the same rate as the produce of the stage coach duty. STAGE COACH DUTIES. POST OFFICE REVEXUE. Year. Net Revenue produced by the Stage Coacli Duty. Rate per cent, of the increase as compared vitli the year 1S15. Revenue which would ! yr^i- ■D^,,^,,,,^ ha'^'e been obtained "^ tt'^.a r ^^r} '^.% ''TAf.' if comparative obtained U , ^,«,^f,-J, <>t^\^Z \ '^ss. the PctOfhce. j.^^^g ^g ^jjg pj.^^^jgg ^f t the Stage Coach Duty. 1815 1820 1825 1830 1835 £ 217,671 273,477 362,631 418,598 498,497 ""25" 66 92 128 £ £ 1557,291 l-n57.'>91 1,479,547 1,670,219 i 1,517,952 1 1,540,300 1,946,000 2,585,000 2,990,000 3,550,000 466,453 914,781 1,472,048 2,009,700 * In the evidence before the Parliamentary Committee on the Blackwall Raih'oad, it is shown, that the number of persons who, in the year 1835, traversed the whole distance between Lon- don and Blackwall by means of Steam-boats was upwards of one million. Had the limit been placed as high as Greenwich, the multitudes constantly passing between that place and London would have vastly augmented the number. POSTAGE TOO HIGH. If it be granted, then, that the demand for the conveyance of letters has increased during the last twenty years, in the same ratio as that for the con- veyance of persons and parcels, which can scarcely be doubted, it follows inevitably that, for some cause or other, there is, in effect, a loss in the Post Office revenue of £2,000,000 per annum. In support of this view of the case it may be stated, that, in France, where the rates of postage are less exorbitant than with us, the gross receipts are said to have increased from nearly 24,000,000 francs (£960,000) in 1821, to 37,000,000 francs (£1,480,000) in 1835, or fifty-four per cent., in four- teen years. The increase of the net receipts of our own Post Office, which it is assumed above ought to have taken place, within the same period, is seventy- one per cent. ; but this difference is more than justified by the superior increase in population and commerce in this country, as compared with France. Besides, the high probabiHty is, that the net revenue in France would be found to have in- creased more rapidly than the ^ross revenue. These considerations would lead us to infer, that the effec- tive loss to the Post Office revenue, resulting from some cause or other, is even more than two millions per annum. The unsatisfactory state of our Post Office revenue is thus referred to by Sir Henry Parnell : " The revenue of the Post Office has been stationary, at about £1,400,000 a year, since 1818. This can be 6 POST OFFICE REFORM. accounted for only by the great duty charged on letters ; for with a lower duty the correspondence of the country through the Post Office would have increased in proportion to the increase of population and national wealth."* On this subject Mr. M'Culloch says : " We believe, however, that these (the additions made to the rates of postage) have been completely overdone, and con- sidering the vast importance of a cheap and safe conveyance of letters to commerce, it will immedi- ately be seen that this is a subject deserving of grave consideration. In point of fact, the Post Office re- venue has been about stationary since 1814, though, from the increase of population and commerce in the intervening period, it is pretty obvious that had the rates of postage not been so high as to force recourse to other channels, the revenue must have been decidedly greater now than at the end of the war. Were the rates moderate, the greater dispatch and security of the Post Office conveyance would hinder any considerable number of letters from being sent through other channels. But in the estimation of very many persons, the present duties more than countervail these advantages, and the number of coaches that now pass between all parts of the country, and the facility with which the law may be evaded by transmitting letters in parcels conveyed by them, renders the imposition of oppressive rates * Financial Reform, fourth ed., p. 41. TAX ON POSTAGE. 7 of j)Ostage quite as injurious to the revenue as to individuals." * There cannot, I conceive, be a doubt that the main cause of the remarkable state of the Post Office revenue, is that which Sir Henry Parnell and Mr. M'Culloch point out. Consequently, that even sup- posing the tax on the transmission of letters to be regulated with a total disregard to the convenience of the public, but merely with a view of rendering it as productive in immediate revenue as possible, it is at present decidedly too high. The net revenue derived from the Post Office is rather more than twice the whole cost of manage- ment ; from which it may aj^pear that the tax is about 200 per cent, on the natural or untaxed cost of postage. Such a tax, enormous as it would be, is however far below that really levied, — for it must be borne in mind that the cost of management includes the cost of collecting the tax, and that of conveying the newspapers and franked letters. Here- after an attempt will be made to ascertain the natural cost of postage with some degree of precision. In the mean time it may be remarked, that even if the whole expense of the Post Office be considered as the natural cost of conveying the letters and newspapers, and a due proportion (say one-third) of that expense be placed to the account of newspapers and franked letters, the tax on the transmission of * M'CuUocli's Commercial Dictionary, p. 935, b POST OFFICE REFORM. letters would be, on au average, upwards of 300 per cent, on the natural cost of such transmission, a rate of taxation which all experience shows to be highly impolitic. It is not necessary to follow out the subject in all its ramifications, otherwise there would be no diffi- culty in showing that any obstacle to the free circu- lation of letters, prospectuses, prices current, &c., must operate injuriously upon many other branches of the revenue. The loss to the revenue is, however, far from being the most serious of the injuries inflicted on society by the high rates of postage. When it is considered how much the religious, moral, and intellectual pro- gress of the people, would be accelerated by the un- obstructed circulation of letters and of the many cheap and excellent non-political publications of the present day, the Post Office assumes the new and important character of a powerful engine of civilization ; capa- ble of performing a distinguished part in the great work of National education, but rendered feeble and inefficient by erroneous financial arrangements. Connected with this view of the subject is a con- sideration too important to be overlooked. There cannot be a doubt that if the law did not interpose its prohibition, the transmission of letters would be gladly undertaken by capitalists, and conducted on the ordinary commercial principles, with all that economy, attention to the wants of their customers, and skilful adaptation of means to the desired end, POST OFFICE A MONOPOLY. 9 whicli is usually practised by those whose interests are involved in their success. But the law consti- tutes the Post Office a monopoly. Its conductors are, therefore, uninfluenced by the ordinary motives to enterprize and good management ; and however injudiciously the institution may be conducted, how- ever inadequate it may be to the growing wants of the nation, the people must submit to the incon- venience ; they cannot set up a Post Office for them- selves. The legislature, therefore, is clearly respon- sible for all the mischief which may result from the present arrangement. With reference to this point, the Commissioners of Eevenue Inquiry, in their able Report on the Post Office, remark, that "the re- strictions which, for the maintenance of the revenue, the law has imposed concerning the untaxed convey- ance of letters, raise an obligation on the part of the Crown to make adequate provision for the public exigencies in this respect; and, in effecting this object, it falls within the province and the duty of His Majesty's Post-master General to create, as well as to guard and to collect a revenue."* It would be very easy to multiply arguments against the present condition of this tax. I might speak of the gross inequality of its pressure, of the impossibility of preventing evasion, now notoriously practised by all classes, notwithstanding the inquisi- torial means resorted to for the detection of offenders, and the severity of the penalties inflicted. But surely * 18th Report of the Commissioners of Revenue Inquiry, p. 4. p 10 POST OITICE REFORM. enouffli has been said to demonstrate tlie miscliievous o tendency of this tax, and the urgent necessity for its extensive modification. If it be conceded that the tax on the transmission of letters is the one most in need of redaction, the i:ext consideration is, What is the greatest extent, under the present circumstances of the revenue of the country, to which reduction may be safely carried ? It has, I conceive, been satisfactorily shown that reduction in postage to a considerable extent woukl produce an increase of revenue. A second reduction would therefore be required to bring back the revenue to its present amount ; and still a third reduction to bring it within the proposed limits. It would be useless to attempt to ascertain the measure of each of these steps in the reduction of the rates of postage, which, indeed, are only stated with the view of showing that a very extensive re- duction in the whole will be required to effect any important diminution in the amount of revenue. In order to ascertain with as much accuracy as the circumstances of the case admit, the extent to which the rates of postage may be reduced, under the condition of a given reduction in the revenue, the best course appears to be, first to determine as nearly as possible the natural cost of conveying a letter under the varpng circumstances of distance, &c. ; that is to say, the cost which would be incurred if the Post Office were conducted on the ordinary ACTUAL COST OF CONVEYING] LETTERS, &C. 11 commercial principles, and postage relieved entirely from taxation ; and tlien to add to the natural cost sucli amount of duty as may be necessary for pro- ducing the required revenue. As a step towards determining the natural cost, let the present actual cost be first ascertained. Without desiring to interfere with the franking privilege, or to relieve the Post Office of the cost of transmitting newspapers, we must, in order to obtain an accurate result, consider (for the present) a due share of the expenses of the Post Office, as charged to the account of franked letters and newspapers. The number of letters chargeable with postage which pass through all the post-offices of the United Kingdom per annum is about* 88,600,000 The number of franked letters'^ 7,400,000 The number of newspapers* 30,000,000 Total number of letters and newspapers per ann. 126,000,000 The annual expenses of all kinds at present aref £696,569 * The total number of letters, ifec, transmitted through the Post is a statistical fact altogether unknown : the statement here given is the result of an estimate, which, however, may be relied upon as sufficiently accurate for the present purpose. (Vide Appendix, pp. 77—80.) t Finance Accounts for the year 1835, pp. 55 — 57. The great increase in the number of new.spapers since the reduction of the duty (already about one-fourth) miist be expected in some degree to increase the expenses of the Post Office ; the increase cannot, however, be such as materially to affect this calculation, p 2 12 POST orncE reform. Consequently, tlie average cost of conveying a letter or newspaper, including the cost of collecting the tax, is, under the present arrangements, about l-|d. In the total of expenses here given some are however included wdiich ought not to enter into the calcula- tion; — certain expenses, as the cost of the packet service, for instance, are undoubtedly capable of great reduction : others, as the cost of expresses, and of many by-posts, are met by special charges. For the sake of simplicity, it will be well to confine the attention to the cqjjmrent cost under the existing arrangements of what may be called the Primary distribution of letters, &c., (meaning by that term, the transmission of letters, &c., from post-town to post- town throughout the United Kingdom, and the de- livery within the post-towns,) and to leave out of con- sideration, for the present, the cost of Secondary dis- tribution, or that distribution which proceeds from each post-town, as a centre, to places of inferior im- portance. At the same time, in estimating the cost of primary distribution, it will be convenient to make any reductions which are obviously practicable, and which do not require a deviation in principle from the existing arrangements. The following table exhibits the apparent cost of primary distribution, cleared of certain extraneous charges, and divided under two heads ; the first showing the expenses of transit, or those which are dependent on the distance over which the letters have to be conveyed ; the second showing the expenses of PRIMARY DISTRIBUTION COST OF. 13 the receipt and delivery of letters, or those which are independent of distance : the cost of collecting the tax is of course included under the latter head. It will be observed that the Post Office is bur- thened with a charge of £30,000 per ann. for super- annuation allowances, allowances for offices and fees abolished, &c. This heavy charge of course greatly increases the apparent cost of management. The first part of this table, as far as column B, inclusive, is taken from the Finance Accounts for 1835, pp. 55 — 57 ; the remainder is the result of estimate. 14 POST OFFICE REFORM ~i^ , o 2 i2 S M^ r .- X j: i^ ^ ^.= ^ ■-< oo 2 2 ■§ c S ? r-H eo to ■-I w c^i i^'o = '? -S i-H CO o T-H OO CN K S 5 O O l-H i-ss •?: t^ ■o S 8 I I § « g ^ •o -* ^ d ^'J ^ !i< H w ^ -*^ tT S i i" rt <^ 'a "^ o*-* B^ ^^< «* c 4^-5 Cri =s ■£, c '^ d -M M ^ S m S E .5 o o d ?„ H r3 o « So a3 M i ^ d .^ ^ f-1 d ia ^, d • [ails aica Offic mtric 2 S| 5 Ph ^g d 5 fi*3 ^r--? S-^ 0^5 • -^ d O O P e « ;3 ^ 9 JH O te rd O^ cs d o"^tS ^ ^ S =1^ ^ g, 1 'd c3 PRIMARY DISTRIBUTION COST OF 15 O CO ^ -^ pqpa O M CS 03 ■ 3 °^ - -_2^ ° ! " o o- 9 o =3 .^ss Sf^ rji ~ O V- ^^ a* 9 o c3 ^ 2 CO O S ^ m fe o c o s u)o^ '■- — Cm -9 t." K^cii a a o 0) g '2^'P S S £ ^ OJ C3 m H 0^ Q^ p !* — > ^ I' - =« s ca £j ni "S -^ a ph ^ .Ix ^ u- s "^ r! K o ^ -•-; -2 ^ ca ^ "3 ■^ '£ .2 ^ ii >5 >. o ^ a. rt ■S '4J o HT Cm o cj r; rr- a -2 >> o O M V P. & -a "^ B o -n r^ % tr o ^ u c p "^ ,:3 " " 16 POST OFFICE REFORM. Taking the number of letters and newspapers to be 126,000,000 (see p. 11), the average apparent cost of the primary distri- bution of newspapers, letters, &c., mthin the United Kingdom, is for each 8i hundredths of a penny. Of which the expense of transit is one-third, or 28 hundredths of a penny. And the cost of receipt, delivery, &c., two- thirds, or 56 hun- dredths of a penny. But it must be recollected tliafc tlie cost of transit for a given distance will, under ordinary circum- stances, be in tolerably direct proportion to the weight carried ; and as a newspaper or franked letter weighs on an average as much as several ordinary letters, the average expense of transit for a letter chargeable with postage, is probably about one-third of the amount above stated, or nine-hundredths of a penny.* The smallness of the exj)ense of transit, as here stated, will probably excite some surprise ; the following calculation, however, which is founded on more exact data, and is therefore more trust- worthy, shows tbat the expense of transit upon the great mass of letters, small as it appears to be, is probably loaded with charges not strictly appertaining to it, or is greatly enhanced by the carriage of the mail to places which are not of sufficient importance to repay the expense. Whatever may be the cause of the discrepancy between the two calculations, the account of the Post Office expenditure is not pub- lished in sufficient detail to enable me to assian it with certainty. * The chargeable letters do not veigh more than about one- fourth of the whole mail. COST OP TRANSIT. 17 Estimate of the cost of conveying a Letter from London to EdinhHrgli , a distance o/'400 miles. Mileage on the whole Mail.* £ s. d. From London to York, 196 miles, at l^^d. per mile 1 5 %\ From York to Edinburgh, 204 miles, at l|d. per mile 1 5 2 10 6| Guards' Wages. — Say six Guards, one day eachj at 10s. 6d per week.t 10 6 Allow for Tolls ^(which are paid in Scotland,) and all other expenses. I 1 18 11| Total cost of conveying the Mail once from Lon- don to Edinburgh, including the Mails of all intermediate places 5 The average weight of the mail conveyed by the London and Edinburgh mail coach is about ... 8 cwt. Deduct for the weight of the bags, say 2 Average weight of letters, newspapers, &c 6 The cost of conveyance is therefore per cwt 16s. ^d. Per ounce and a half, the average weight of a newspapei', about one-sixth of a penny. Per quarter of an ounce, the average weight of a single letter, about one thirty-sixth of a penny. * Parliamentary Return, 1836, No. 364. t Parliamentary Return, 1835, No. 442. I In strict fairness the English tolls ought perhaps to be in- cluded, as the exemption may be considered part of the price paid by the public for the conveyance of the mail. On the other hand, at least part of the coach duty, which for the mails is two- pence for every mile travelled, should be deducted from the esti- mate. Sir Henry Parnell is of opinion that exemption from this duty would, under good management, be a compensation in full 18 POST OFFICE REFORM. If any doubt is entertained of tlie accuracy of this result it may be tested thus : — Suppose one thou- sand letters to be made up into a parcel and dis- patched from London to Edinburgh by coach : at the estimate above given, the weight of the parcel would be about 16 lbs., and the charge for its carriage about 2s. 4^d. ; a rate of charge which, upon a contract for nearly half a ton per day, will furnish an adequate remuneration to the coach-master. It appears, then, that the cost of mere transit ui- curred upon a letter sent from London to Edinburgh, a distance of 400 miles, is not more than one tliirty- si'Xth part of a penny. If therefore the proper charge (exclusive of tax) upon a letter received and delivered in London itself were two-pence, then the proper charge (exclusive of tax) upon a letter received- in London, but delivered in Edinburgh, would be two- pence 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 to the coach proprietors for the conveyance of the mail. He says : ' Without going into particulars, and attempting to prove what is the right course that ought to be taken, I should say generally, that there would be no difficulty, with a proper plan of manage- ment, to have the mail coaches horsed by allowing the stamp duty only — without an exemption from paying tolls — that is id. a [double] mile— provided that the proprietors were allowed to carry an additional outside passenger, which would be equal to Sc/., and that coaches of the best possible construction were used." — 7th Keport of Com. of Post Office Inquiry, p. 98. COST OF RECEIPT AND DELIVERY. 19 additional charge of one thirty-sixth part of a penny- would amply repay the expense of transit. If^ there- fore, the charge for postage he made proportionate to the lohole expense incurred in the receipt, transit, and delivery of the letter, and hi the collection of its postage, it must he made uniformly the same from every post-town to every other post-town in the United Kingdom, unless it can be shown how we are to collect so small a sum as the thirty-sixth part of a penny. Again, the expenses of receipt and delivery are not much affected by the weight of each letter, within moderate limits ; and, as it would take a nine- fold weight to make the expense of transit amount to one farthing, it follows that, taxation apart, the charge ought to he precisely the same for every packet of moderate weight, tvithout reference to the number of its enclosures. Having ascertained that the actual expense of conveying the letters from post-town to post-town forms so small a fraction of the whole apparent cost of primary distribution, it will be well to examine the other items of expenditure more minutely, with the view of discovering how far they are to be considered as the natural and necessary cost of distributing the correspondence of the country, and how far they result from the Post Office being made an instrument of taxation. The items of expenditure now to be brought un- der consideration are those which are classed at p. 14, 20 POST OFFICE REFORM. in column F, as attendant on the receipt and delivery of letters. A reference to the table shows that they consist almost entirely of salaries to the officers and servants of the Post Office. These persons, with a few exceptions, may be arranged in three classes ; namely, Superintend- ents, (including Post-masters and Keepers of Ee- ceiving- houses,) Clerks (including Messengers), and Letter Carriers. In a Parliamentary Eeturn (1835, No. 442) is a detailed statement of the salaries paid in the London, Dublin, and Edinburgh post offices, which amount to more than one-half of such salaries for the whole of the British Isles. Assuming that the remaining part is divided among the three classes in the same relative proportions as in these places, the account will stand thus : Actual cost in Loudou, Edinburgla, and Dublin, per annum. Estimated cost for the United Kingdom per annum. Per centage on the whole cost of primary distribu- tion, as deduced at p. 14, viz., £426,517. Superintendents, includ- ing Post- masters and Keepers of Receiving- houses Clerks, including Mes- sengers £ 22,400 61,500 46,000 £ 38,300 105,400 78,800 25 18 Letter Carriers Total 129,900 222,500 52 1. Sicjjermfende?ifs. — The expense of superin- tendence in every establishment depends chiefly on CLERKS. 21 tlie variety and complexity of the operations to be performed. If by any arrangement the ojDerations of the Post Office could be extensively simplified, there can be no doubt that the same amount of superintendence would suffice for a greatly increased amount of business. The causes of the present complexity, and the practicability of extensive sim- plification, will be considered more conveniently in connexion with the duties of the clerks. 2. Clerks. — The duties of the Clerks in the London Office will be taken as a specimen of those of the body generally ; they are princijDally as follows. On the arrival of the Mails in the morning, to ex- amine all the letters, in order to see that the charge upon each letter for postage has been correctly made, and that each Deputy Post-master has debited himself with the correct amount of postage for paid letters ; to stamp the letters ; to assort them for delivery ; (in this the Letter Carriers assist;) to ascertain the amount of postage to be collected by each Letter Carrier, and to charge him therewith. Previously to the departure of the Mails in the evening, the duties of the Clerks are j)rincipally to adjust the accounts for the post-paid letters brought from the Eeceiving-houses ; to " tax " the unpaid letters ; that is to say, to write on each the charge for postage ; to stamp all ; to assort them for dis- patch to the different post-towns ; to ascertain the amount of postage to be collected by each Deputy Post-master, and to charge him therewith. 22 POST OFFICE REFORM. It must be borne in mind that the jDublic con- venience requires that the delivery of letters should follow as closely as possible the arrival of the Mails ; and that the receipt of letters should be con- tinued as close as possible up to the departure of the Mails. It follows, therefore, that all these mul- tifarious duties have to be performed in the shortest possible space of time, though some, from their diffi- culty and complexity, involv^e an enormous amount of labour, while their accurate performance demands a degree of vigilance rarely to be met with. Take for instance the financial proceedings in the evening. First there are the accounts to be settled with the Eeceivers (71 in number) for the post-paid letters; then there is to tax the letters, which, without counting the franks, are frequently as many as 40,000, and every one of which is to be examined with a candle to see whether it is single or double ; * then the proper postage is to be determined, not only with reference to such inspection, but also with reference to the distance of the post-town to which it is ad- dressed, and to be marked on the letter with pen and ink; and lastly, nearly 700 f accounts of postage are to be made out against as many Deputy Post- masters. When the hurried manner in which these complex operations have to be performed is considered, it is * 18th Report of Com. of Revenue Inquiry, p. 63. t Pari. Return, 1835, No. 512, p. 6. CLERKS. 23 manifest that errors must frequently arise. There is also an obvious danger of extensive frauds on the Eevenue from collusion between some of the Deputy Post-masters and those whose duty it is to charge them with the postage. The examination of each letter by a candle too, by revealing the contents, creates temptations to theft, which have too often been irresistible. In the Appendix will be found some proofs that the dangers here contemplated exist in practice.* This liability to error and fraud renders it highly important that some sufficient check on the opera- tions under consideration should be practised. The fact is, however, that no such check exists, the only security being in the conscientiousness of the Deputy Post-masters, whose duty it is, on receipt of their bags, to examine the charges placed to their accounts, and to correct any error which they may discover. Mr. D. W. Stow, an officer of the Post Office, when asked by the Commissioners of Eevenue In- quiry, " What is the longest operation in preparing the letters for delivery, the stamping, sorting, or taking the accounts ? " replies, " Takmg the ac- counts, because it leads to a difference very often which might retard the operation : the stamping is a mere mechanical thing, as well as the exami- nation, "f There can be no doubt that the chief sources of * Appendix, p. 69. t IStli Eeport of Com. of Kevenue Inquiry, p. 474. 24 POST OFFICE REFORM. all this trouble, and error, and fraud, exist in the complexity of the operations ; a complexity arising out of the varying charges for postage, and the in- termixture of paid and unpaid letters. The remedy must therefore be looked for in the means of sim- plification. If the postage of all letters were collected after their passage through the Central Office, something would be accomplished in simplifying the operations, but how much more would be effected if any means could be devised by which the postage of all letters should be collected before their passage through the Central Office ! For the purpose of estimating the advantages which would result from such an arrangement, suppose for a moment that all letters were post-paid, that the rates of postage were uniform, without re- gard to distance, (say a certain small sum j)er ounce,) and that the amount collected were transmitted to the Central Office, from the London Receiving- houses, and from the several post-towns, with the letters, or at least accounted for at the time of their transmission ; the correct amount being ascertained and checked at the Central Office by weighing, and perhaps counting, the mass of letters received from each officer. A little consideration will show the enormous effect which this arrangement would have in simpli- fying and accelerating the proceedings of the Post Office throughout the kingdom, and in rendering them less liable to error and fraud. Take as a LETTER CARRIERS. 25 specimen its effect in the Central Metropolitan Office. There would be no letters to be taxed ; no examina- tion of those taxed by others ; no accounts to be made out against the Deputy Post-masters for letters transmitted to them, nor against the Letter Carriers. There would be no want of checks ; no necessitj?- to submit to frauds and numberless errors for want of means to prevent or correct them.^ In short, the whole of the financial proceedings would be reduced to a simple, accurate, and satisfactory account, con- sisting of a single item -per day, with each Eeceiver and each Deputy Post-master. Can there be a doubt that under such simple arrangements, especially if the operation of assorting the letters could be materially facilitated, (of which more hereafter,) the present staff of clerks would amply suffice for at least a four-fold amount of busi- ness ? Still, however desirable such a simplification may be, its practicability has yet to be ascertained. But, before proceeding to this question, it will be convenient to consider whether the time of the remaining class of Post Office servants (the Letter Carriers) is capable of being economised. 3. Letter Carriers. — This is by far the most numerous class in the service of the Post Office; so much so, that although their individual salaries are comparatively low, the aggregate, as shown at * The Post-master General is of opinion that the present com- plexity of the accounts is such as to render any certain check im- practicable. Par. Pro. 1835. No. 443, pp. .5 and 6. 26 POST OFFICK RKFORM. p. 20, forms a very important item in the account ; any abridgment of the labours of this class of servants must therefore be of great economical importance. The evidence given before the Commissioners of Eevenue Inquiry appears to indicate the means of attaining this desirable object. At the time of the investigation (1828) there existed in London what was called the " early delivery " of letters ; that is to say, any person for a small annual fee was privileged to receive his letters before the usual hour of delivery. The privilege, I believe, still exists, but to a much less extent. The early delivery was effected thus : the letters in question were separated from the others and dis- tributed by persons, (generally the Letter Carriers of remote quarters, while on their way to their own proper districts,) who delivered the letters at the respective houses, leaving the postage to be collected by the proper Letter Carrier of the district, who for that purpose made a second round after completing his ordinary delivery. Mr. Benjamin Critchett, Inspector of the Inland Letter Carriers, was examined, among other matters, as to the time required for the early and late de- liveries respectively ; the following is an extract from his evidence thereon.* * Since this evidence was given, the employment of Omnibuses for the conveyance of the Letter Carriers to the remote distiicts, and other arrangements, have caused the ordinary delivery of let- ters to commence much earlier. LETTER CARRIERS. 27 " If a postman were to deliver the whole of his letters as he went along, not taking the money for any of them, and returned through his walk, and then collected the money, would they not all be delivered much earlier than they are now ? — Certainly. "And would it require more hands to do it than are now emjDloyed ? — No. " The man going back to receive the postage of the early letters must pass by the doors where he has delivered letters and received the postage ? — Yes : I will describe the operation in two or three districts this morning : I will take Lombard-street, where the number of letters that were delivered this morning was 637. " In Lombard-street ? — Yes. The amount of postage £25 14-5, 3^. " You are confining yourself now to Lombard- street ? — The Lombard- street district : Lombard- street, Clement's- lane, Nicholas-lane, and various coiu'ts. " Are you speaking of the general deliver}^ ? — I am speaking of the total number of letters sorted for that district — the Lombard-street district. " And that were carried out by Letter Carriers ? — That were carried out by Letter Carriers this morn- ing; there were 637 letters, the amount of postage £25 145. 3^/. Of this number of letters, 570 were delivered early. " Could you state the time within which they were delivered ? — All in half an hour, G 2 28 POST OrPICK REFORM. " What o'clock would that be ? — That would be about half -past nine. " They were delivered in half an hour from the time they were dispatched? — From the time they were dispatched : 570 were delivered early, the postage £22 I9s. 4^ 00 -*" icT ocT irT cT rH CD r-l CO o o o o o OOOOOOOOO OOOOOOO'*! 0__0 ^ O C^T^O GO CM o co" i>r co" »o" t-^ -*" o~ t— I (M ]— ( CO o o S a .2 jj" o . « *j ^ -^„ _ •^ S "5 ^ N OO" 5 r-l 2 g aj •> §_ j. O o3 boa O o o OOOOOOOOO o OOOOOOO'+i o O O C-T O t- O C'T CI 00 crT of cd' (m" -:^" cd" ^" o" I— r J:^ I— ( CO ^ o ciasb-^^oocioo O COr- (OOt^OOOcO^ O 00^05050010 CM CS' OO" 'O'^ ^"^ 05" -rfT lo" CO~ 0~ 05 CO CO GO O ^ o 10^ 00^ c^cd" 00 t^ 10 ^ 00 o -# o 00 CD CO O '^ o 1—1 xH CD CO -:t< O 05 O O CM co^oT Oi CD CO CO ^'^^ O5O5t^-*lOCOO500 CO>— IGOt^OOi— ico-tl 0050505005IOOT co~ 10" ^"^ 05" -*'" irT co" o" CO CO CD o" 00 00^ co'~>4 w C Cj fl (D =y .3 I 5 Ph'-P Ph h-^ (^ J» ^ INCREASE OF LETTERS. 83 No. 6. PROBABLE INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF LETTERS. Which of the results exhibited in the preceding paper will be obtained by the measure contemplated, it is impossible to predict with certainty. Important material for conjecture, however, may be found in the following statement. The sources of increase calculated upon are, 1. The virtual prevention of contraband conveyance. 2. An extension of the actual correspondence. With respect to contraband conveyance, it is beyond all doubt that it is at present carried on to a very great extent. I have already stated (p. 34) that an extensive irregular distribution of letters is constantly proceeding in the manufacturing district around Birmingham ; and it is well known that vast numbers are every day forwaxxled by carriers and coach proprietors. Not long ago there was seized in a carrier's warehouse one bag containing eleven hundred letters. Almost all parcels, especially such as are sent at stated times, (booksellers' parcels, for instance,) con- tain letters ; and not unfrequently large packets are sent by coach, consisting of letters alone. Again, the vast extent to which the trade of the country has in- creased within the last 20 years, must have been attended by a proportionate increase in the amount of mercantile correspon- dence, while the great spread of education, and increase of popu- lation during the same period, must have greatly augmented the correspondence of all kinds. Attention may again be called to the fact mentioned at page 5, that an increase of more than a half has actually taken place in the revenues of the French Post Office since 1821 ; and it may be remarked, that in the 20 years during which our own Revenue has been practically stationary, that derived from the Post Office of the United States has more than tripled.* * In each of the cases here cited, the revenue from oiu- own Post Office inclusive, it is the gross revenue which is spoken of. 84 APPENDIX, Now, as regards our own Post Office, the number of post letters during the last 20 years has not increased at all, it is manifest that the whole augmentation must have gone to swell the con- traband conveyance. Nor is this surprising when we consider that the diminution in the price of almost all other articles has produced a virtual increase in the charge for postage ; that the opportunities for such irregular conveyance have vastly multiplied ; and that in consequence of the increasing difficulty in enforcing any law which is not strongly backed by public opinion, the risk incurred in this illicit practice is greatly reduced. Now, it may be safely assumed that, practically speaking, all the letters at present conveyed in this irregular manner, will, by the proposed regulations, be brought to the Post Office. Here also it may be remarked, that without interfering with the privilege of franking, the proposed reduction would tend greatly to relieve Members of Parliament and others from the imjDortunity to which they are at present exposed, and thus convert no inconsiderable portion of the 24,000 daily franks into chargeable letters. With respect to increase in the actiial amount of correspon- dence, the pi'oposed arrangements will bring two causes into operation, both very potent. First. — Increased facility of communication. Secondly. — Diminished expense. On the potency of the former cause much light is thrown by the Report of the Commissioners of Revenue Inquiry, as quoted at page 46, and I may here especially refer to the fact, that the consequence of Mr. Palmer's improvements, which merely tended to increase facility, was, in the course of twenty years, to triple the con'espondence of the country. But the second cause would probably tend to the increase of correspondence even more than the first. That the lowering of duties most decidedly tends to increase consumption, is proved by the fact, that in scarcely any instance has the loss to the revenue been in the same proportion as the reduction. Several instances were cited in the first page of this INCREASE OP LETTERS. 85 little work showing that diminution in the rate of duty often oc- casions comparatively little decrease in its productiveness, while it is sometimes followed by an absolute increase. It is manifest, however, that that which produces the increase of consumption is a decrease not in duty, but in price. It is of no practical importance to the consumer how this price is made up, and it is only in its tendency to lower the price, or, what is the same thing, to improve the quality, or increase the facility of purchase, that the diminution in duty concerns him. As in all taxed articles, the price is made up of cost and duty, it is manifest that the lowering of the duty cannot in the same ratio lower the price. Thus, on a reduction of one-half in the duty on coffee, the price fell by only one-fourth. In the change here contemplated, on the other hand, our dealings are at once with jirice. We do not propose to lower the duty on the trans- mission of letters in the hope of obtaining a reduction in postage, but at once to reduce postage itself. In considering the effects of this change, therefore, we have nothing directly to do with the diminution of duty, but only with a decrease in price. And this circumstance, fortunately, saves us much laborious investigation, as decrease in price is often the compound result of diminution in duty and increase in facility of production. Taking, therefore, one or two articles of which, from whatever cause, the price has fallen, we will observe how far that reduction has resulted in in- creased consumption. The price of soap, for instance, has recently fallen by about one- eighth ; the consumption in the same time has increased by one- third. Tea, again, the price of which, since the opening of the China trade, has fallen by about one-sixth, has increased in con- sumption by almost a half. The consumption of silk goods, which, subsequently to the year 1823, have fallen in price by about one-fifth, has more than doubled. The consumption of coffee, the price of which, subsequently to 1823^ has fallen about one-fourth, has more than tripled. And the consumption of cotton goods, the price of which, during the last twenty years, has fallen by nearly one-half, has in the same time been fourfolded. 86 * APPENDIX. If we might safely infer a general rule from these facts, it would appear that, to say the least, the increase in consumption is inversely as the squares of the prices. And a calculation founded on this rule would lead us to expect that, if the proposed average reduction in postage, viz., from Qd. to Id. per letter, were effected, the number of letters would increase thirty-six fold ; and perhaps it is not altogether beyond the bounds of possibility that a very long course of time should bring us to some such a result. Indeed, when we consider the immense increase which has taken place in travelling by water, wherever steam-boats have been brought into operation, and when we consider that the ad- vantages which have led to this increase, viz., greater speed and certainty with reduced charges, are equally secured by the arrange- ments here proposed, this result is not quite so extravagant as might at fir.st sight appear. Still, for many reasons, it would be quite erroneous to admit even the remote possibility of such an enormous increase into any practical consideration of the subject ; nor indeed is there any temptation to speculate on such distant chances. A reference to the table which precedes these observa- tions will show, that an increase not more than a sixth part of that, the remote possibility of which has just been glanced at, would be sufficient to retain the revenue in its present state, while a yet smaller increase is all that has been counted upon as probable. It is important to observe that that increase in the number of letters which would sustain the revenue in its present state, does not require any addition to the present actual expenditure in postage.* All that is necessary to secure the revenue from any diminution is, that the public should be willing to expend as much in postage as at present. Now it would be very difficult, perhaps impossible, to point out any instance in which a reduc- tion in the price of any particular article has not eventually, and even speedily, been followed by such an increase in demand, as * To make this statement literally correct, a small allowance shoiild be made to meet the expense of secondary distribution ; and on the other hand, the present average postage should be given at G\d. instead of 6d, INCREASE OF LETTERS. 87 has at least sustained the total expenditure in that article at its former amount. In every one of the instances given above, all of which are of articles of veiy general consumption, the total ex- penditure, so far from being diminished by the decrease in price, has considerably increased, and in some instances the increase is very great. Thus on coffee^ the price of which, as stated above, has fallen one-fourth, the public now expends more than twice as much as it did before the reduction. And, making every allowance for the progress of population and wealth, this increase, when considered as not on the consumption but on the actual expendi- ture, must be pronounced a very striking fact. Nor is it to be explained by supposing that coflee has superseded other beverages, for, during the very same time, there has been a corresponding increase in the amount expended on tea, malt liquor, and spirits ; an increase manifestly attributable to the same causes. In pursuing this question it will be convenient to consider the bulk of the letters written as arranged in two classes, viz., letters on business, and letters between friends and relations. With respect to the former class, in addition to an immense number of letters at present forwarded by conti-aband con- veyance, there is the large class of invoices, now sent most fre- quently with the goods to which they relate, but which, as I am informed by mercantile men whom I have consulted, would, under the new regulations, be invariably sent by post, as letters of advice. Again, there are the lists of prices current, which, especially in commodities liable to frequent fluctuations, it is of importance should be received at short intervals. Speaking of prices current. Lord Lowther, in his very able Report on the Post Office, says : " It is, I think, plainly shown by the evidence taken, that great advantage would arise to trade from the transmission of prices current at a small rate of postage. It is affirmed by various wit- nesses, that throughout the country there is a continually increas- ing desire among persons in trade for such information of the state of the markets in London and elsewhere as prices current wouhl 88 APPENDIX. afibrd. That the furnishing of this information is very much restricted by the high rate of postage, and that if it were more generally afforded, it is probable that much more business would be done. It is also stated, that the increase in the number trans- mitted at a low I'ate of postage would be such, that the Revenue required would be much greater than it now is under the high rate of postage, — one witness, Mr. Cook, estimating the increase, if allowed to be transmitted at a low rate of postage, at three mil- lions of prices current annually." * Prospectuses too, such as are already issued to some extent by merchants, manufacturers, and shopkeepers, would become a very large class of post letters. For example, a manufacturer intro- duciug some improved article, a shopkeeper receiving new pat- terns, or a bookseller issuing a new work, would gladly avail him- self of any inexpensive means of immediate communication with every individual of the class from' which he expected his customers. The following is a statement in corroboration of these views, with which I have been faA^oured by Mr. Chai'les Knight, the publisher : " Upon the pomt on which you desire my opinion, with refer- ence to the productiveness of the Post Office Revenue under a greatly reduced scale of charges, I have no hesitation in believing that if the rate of postage throughout the country were reduced to a penny, many hundreds of thousands of prospectuses of new books, and of publishers' catalogues, would be annually circu- lated. In my own case, I should feel that such a mode of circu- lation would be by far the cheapest and most efficient plan of advertising. To be able to address the information which a prospectus communicates, with absolute certainty, to the persons likely to be interested in its perusal, would be a most advantageous method of advancing the distribution of books, and would obviate * 5th Ecport of the Commissioners of Post Office Inquiry. — The datu of Lord Lowther's Report is May, 183o. INCREASE OF LETTERS. 89 a great pai't of the difficulty which exists in putting such infor- mation effectually before the inhabitants of rural districts especially. If 2,000 such lists could be circulated monthly for about £8, — which they would be under yovir plan, — I should be too glad to spend £100 a year in placing these lists periodically in the hands of country booksellers, professional men, and literary societies ; — and I have no doubt that every publisher in London would feel it his interest to adopt the principle. Advertisements in the newspapers, however efficient and indispensable for attract- ing public attention to new books, are random shots which may or may not reach the individuals and classes for whom they are meant." Auctioneers' catalogues, announcements of sales, of changes of residence, of the opening of new establishments, of exhibitions, lectures, &c., and various other papers intended to attract the attention of distmct classes of the community, would in number- less instances be circulated by means of the post. It is also important to observe, that it is very much the practice of tradesmen in managing their correspondence, to defer writing until they have such an accumulation of matter as will justify the expense of postage ; nay, in many instances I have known persons deterred by this expense from communicating important infor- mation until the period of its utility was past. Under the new arrangement thepractice would be to write as each occasion arose ; and thus to distribute into several letters the matter now accumu- lated in one. In most commercial establishments it is the rule not to receive an order, (unless post paid,) for less than a -certain fixed amount ; and in some, where the profits are low, this amount is placed as high as 51. Here the direct influence of the high rates of postage in reducing the number of letters, and in restricting trade, is manifest. For the following statement, with reference to this jDart of the subject, I am indebted to Mr. Dillon, of the house of Morrison and Co, '* I have no doubt but that a very decided reduction in the rate E 90 APPENDIX. of postage would cause a very considerable increase in the num- ber of trading and mercantile letters. " We receive in the year many thousand letters ; a large propor- tion of these are orders for goods, varying from some hundred pounds down to five pounds sterling ; but if we execute an order lower than five pounds we charge the postage, so that practically five pounds becomes the minimum. " At a rate of postage so low as one penny, a great number of explanatory letters on business, and letters on matters of detail, would be written. Occasions are of coiistant occurrence in which we do not write, and are not written to, because the matter, though important enough to write upon, is not important enough to pay, or to cause others to pay, the postage. I refer here to questions as to the mode of conveyance of goods, as to the colour or pattern of articles ordered, or to an ambiguous or an illegible phrase in a letter received, and a thousand other matters. These cases all imply double postage, — a letter and a reply. " The sending invoices by post, (so that they should also serve as letters of advice,) instead of inclosing them in goods, would alone cause a great increase in the number of letters. " In the higher class of mercantile transactions the increase of letters would perhaps be inconsiderable ; but then the actual number of letters in such cases must necessarily be small. Wherever the number of letters is large, however important may be the transactions they refer to, I have no doubt but that economy is regarded, and that the number of letters is kept down by the ^;ressi*f •• ^^«