The publication of this plan immediately excited a strong public sympathy in its favour,and especially with the commercial classes of the City of London. Mr. Wal lace moved for a select committee to in quire into its merits on the 9th May, 1837 • but the motion fell to the ground. In December, 1837, the government assented to the appointment of a select committee to inquire into and report upon the plan. After upwards of sixty•three days, and examining Mr. Rowland Hill and eighty-three witnesses, besides the officers of the departments of the Post-offiee and the Excise and Stamp offices, the commit tee presented a most elaborate Report in favour of the whole plan, confirming by authentic and official data the conclu sions which Mr. Hill had formed from very scanty and imperfect materials. In the session of 1839 the chancellor of the exchequer brought forward a Bill to en able the Treasury to carry the plan into effect, whioh was carried by a majority of one hundred in the House of Commons, and passed into law on the 17th of August, 1839. In the following month an arrangement was made which secured Mr. Rowland Hill's superintendence of the working out his own measure ; but he was superseded by the administration which came into office in September, 1841. On the 5th December, 1839, as a preparatory measure, to accustom the department to the mode of charging by weight, the inland rates were reduced to a uniform charge of 4d. per half-ounce. The scale of weight for letters advanced at a single rate for each half-ounce up to sixteen ounces. Other reductions were made in packet rates ; and the London district post was reduced from 2d. and 3d. to This measure con tinued in force until the 10th January. 1840, when a uniform inland rate of postage of ld. per half-ounce, payable in advance, or 2d. payable on delivery, came into operation. On this day par liamentary franking entirely ceased. On the 6th May stamps were introduced. The warrants of the Lords of the Treasury which authorised these changes were pub lished in the London Gazette of the 22nd November, 28th December, 1839; 25th April, 1840. Returns have been made which show the increase of letters under the uniform-postage system. The num ber of letters which were actually counted for the week ending 24th November, 1839, before any changes took place, was 1,585,973 letters, including franks ; for the week ending 22nd December, 1839, during the fourpenny rate. it was 2,008,687; and for the week en.iii g 23rd February, 1840, 3,199,637. Thus the number of chargeable letters of all kinds increased 29 per cent. under the 4d. rate, and 121 per cent. (or, deducting the government letters, 117 per cent.) under the Id. rate. The number of charge able letters dispatched by the General Post increased 40 per cent. under the 4d. rate, and 169 per cent. (or, deducting the government letters, 165 per cent.) under the penny rate.
The gross receipts of the Post-office for the United Kingdom in the year pre ceding the adoption of the uniform rates of postage, and in subsequent years, are shown in the following table :— 1838 £2,346,278 1842 £1,578,145 1839 2,390,763 1843 1,535,211 1840 1,342,604 1844 1,705,067 1841 1,495,540 The net receipts for each of the fol.
lowing years ending 10th October in each were as under : 1838 1,536,000 1842 591,000 1839 1,533,000 1843 590,000 1840 694,000 1844 672,000 1841 426,000 1845 688,000 The cost of management for the year ending 5th Jan., 1839, was 686,768L ; and for the year ending 5th Jan., 1845, 885,3141. Day-mails have been esta blished to every town of importance, and in some cases the communication by post between one town and another takes place several times a day. The mileage paid to railway companies has greatly increased, but the object for which the post-office is established has been more completely attained. Cor respondence has increased with the ra pidity and frequency of conveyance. In 1839 the gross receipts of the Lon don district post were 137,0411., and in 1844 225,6271. ; but the rates of post age (2d. and 3d.) in 1839 were uniform as it respects weight, and were lower for letters of a certain weight than under the existing system of charg ing in proportion to the weight.
The number of letters delivered in the United Kingdom for one week in 1839, before the establishment of the uniform rates of postage, and one week in the corresponding week of the year 1841, was as follows:— Week ending Week ending 24 Nov.1839. 21 Nov.1841.
Country offices . 764,938 2,029,370 London, inland, foreign, & ship . 229,292 564,481 London District . 258,747 435,602 Total England and Wales . 1,252,977 3,029,453 Ireland . • 179,931 403,421 Scotland . . 153,065 413,248 Total United Kingdom . 1,585,973 3,546,122 The total number of letters delivered in the United Kingdom in the week end ing Nov. 20th in each of the following years was as under :— In 1841 . . . 3,846,122 In 1842 . . . 4,202,546 In 1843 . . . 4,349,213 The principle of cheap postage has been applied to the transmission of money through the post-office by means of money-orders. A few years ago the cost of sending 10s. to a person 160 miles from London would have been 2s. 2d., whereas the expense would now be only 4d. including the postage. In November, 1840, the commission on money-orders was reduced from Is. 6d. to 6d. for sums above 2/. and not exceeding 51. ; and from 6d. to 3d for sums not exceeding 2/. The number of offices em powered to grant money-orders has increased and other facilities have been granted. The consequences of these successive changes have been as follows: Number and amount of money-orders issued in England and Wales in the quarters ending— No. Amount.
5 April, 1839 .. 28,838 £49,496 5 Jan., 1840 .. 40,763 67,411 5 Jan., 1841 .. 189,984 334,652 5 Jan., 1842 .. 390,290 820,576 POWER OF ATTORNEY. [LET