The inland correspondence is carried by railroads, by four-horse and two-horse coaches; by cars in Ireland, by single-horse carts, on horse back, and foot.
The number of miles travelled over in England and Scotland by the mail-coaches in the following years, was as follows :— It thus appeared that on an average gross revenue of 2,190,597/. there had been in seventeen years a positive increase of 60,827/., averaging only 3578/. yearly, or little more than 14 per thousand, though the advance had been rapid in population, and still more so in wealth, industry, and trade.
Establishment, Cost of Management, &c.—The head of the Post-Office is styled the Postmaster-General, under whose authority are placed all the post-offices in the United Kingdom and the colonies. The office was formerly held by two persona. It is considered a political one, and the holder relinquishes it with a change of ministry: The Com missioners of Poet-Office Inquiry (4th Report) recommended that the office should be exercised by three permanent commissioners ; and a bill passed the Commons to give effect to the recommendation, but was thrown out by the Lords.
In 1831 and 1832 the chief offices of London, Dublin, and Edin burgh were remodelled by the Duke of Richmond, then postmaster generaL The separate office of postmaster-general for Ireland was abolished, and other changes were made, which were estimated to reduce the expenses above 4700/. per annum. In London the saving was estimated at 6448/. per annum : a secretary at Dublin and at Edinburgh is chief executive officer for the respective countries.
The metropolitan General Post-Office was removed in 1829 from Lombard Street to St. Martin's-le-Grand. It is the head-quarters of all post-office business. All accounts of the collection of the revenue and the expenditure are rendered there.
No accounts of the number of documents passing through the Post Office were kept until shortly before the introduction of Sir Rowland Mill's system. Founded upon a very careful examination of the best data, the numbers, the result of very elaborate calculations, are appended to the ` Report of the Commons' Committee ; as here subjoined The chargeable letters in the mails leaving London were found to The system of mail-coaches owes its origin to Mr. Palmer. In 1784, Mr. Palmer, who was manager of the Bath and Bristol theatres, laid a plan before Mr. Pitt, which was adopted by the government, after much opposition from the functionaries in the Post-Office. The greatest improvement in the transmission of the correspondence of the country was effected by this plan. Mr. Palmer found the post, instead of being the quickest, nearly the slowest conveyance in the country ; very con siderably slower than the common stage coaches. The average rate of speed did not exceed three miles and a half per hour. Whilst coaches left London in the afternoon and reached Bath on the following morning, the post did not arrive till the second afternoon. Slowness
was not the only defect : it was also irregular, and very insecure. The robbery of the mail was very common. 'Mr. Palmer succeeded in perfecting the mail-coach system, and in greatly increasing the punc tuality, the speed, and security of the post. At least 500 places obtained a daily delivery of letters, which before received them not oftener than three times in the week.
The net revenue before these changes had averaged for twenty years about 150,000/. a year. In ten years after Mr. Palmer's plan had been in work, the net revenue increased to 400,000/. ; in twenty years it became 700,0001.; and in thirty years it had reached a million and a half, from which sum it can hardly be said to have advanced to the time of the adoption of Sir Rowland Hill's system. The reader will find both the history and progress of Mr. Palmer's plan, of the Poet Office opposition, and the subsequent proceedings arising out of his claims, fully related in parliamentary papers, printed by order of the House of Commons in 1307, 1808, and 1813.
In 1833 a plan calculated not only to increase the utility of the Post-Office in the promotion of all the objects of civilisation, but to change the whole management of the institution, was brought forward by Mr. (now Sir) Rowland Hill, a gentleman wholly unconnected with the departmeut. It was at first privately submitted to the govern ment, and subsequently published in a pamphlet under the title of ' Post-Office Reform—its Importance and Practicability.' In a short period three editions were issued. The main features of Mr. Hill's plan, which putting aside the merits of the suggestion of a uniform rate, is discussed with singular moderation, acuteness, caution, and Round reasoning, proposed to effect-1, a great diminution in the rates Df postage ; 2, increased speed in the delivery of letters ; and, 3, more frequent opportunities for their despatch. lfe proposed that the rate at postage should be uniform, to be charged according to weight, and that the payment should be made in advance. The means of doing so by stamps were not suggested in the first edition of the pamphlet, and Sir. Hill states that this idea did not originate with him. A unifomi -ate of a penny was to be charged for every letter not exceeding half Ur ounce in weight, with an additional penny for each additional )once. Mr. Hill discovered the justness and propriety of a uniform -ate in the fact that the cost attendant on the transmission of letters ,vas not measured by the distance they were carried. He showed on ndisputable data that the actual coat of conveying letters from London to Edinburgh, when divided among the letters actually carried, did not exceed one penny for thirty-ell letters. Independently of its fairness, the obvious advantages of simplicity and economical manage ment Were strongly in favour of a uniform rate.