In Neve mber,1840, a most important improvement was introduced by an increased facility in transmitting email sums of money. The Post Office had been accustomed to give orders on local post-offices for eums under 51. 58., for which they charged 5 per cent. ; and as the order was on a separate sheet, it involved double postage. The order was next given on a sheet of letter-paper, which saved a postage ; later, the charge was reduced to a fixed sum of Is. 6d. for sums between 21. and 51., and Gd. for sums less than 2/. These charges were reduced to 6d. and 3d. respectively : the effect was prodigious. In the three months ending Feb. 5, 1841, the amount paid on such orders was 59,432/., against 8141/. in the corresponding months of 1840. For some time, however, the expenses of the Money-Order Office, for which a distinct staff had to be organiaed, exceeded the profits. But the increase of business has been continuous, and money-orders are now the source of a largo revenue, except in Ireland. In 1859 the total number of money-orders issued in the United Kingdom was 6,969,108, to the amount of 13,250,930/., an increase of 4/ per cent. over 1358. Of the total number, 5,932,133 orders, to the amount of 11,853,057/., wore issued in England ; 49S,828, to the amount of 891,6751., in Ireland ; and 538,147, to the amount of 1,001,298/., in Scotland. The commis sion gave a profit, after deducting expenses, in England, of 27,7804, and In Scotland of 20191.; in Ireland there was a loss of 6341. Tho number of orders gives an average of 1 for every 3 persons in England, for every 6 in Scotland, and for every 13 in Ireland. Money-order offices have also been established at Malta, Gibraltar, and in Canada.
ID 1855 some important improvements in matters of detail were introduced with great success. Country letters to London, or passing through London, were either sorted at the provincial offices or during their transmission, and this expedited the morning delivery in London by nearly an hour. Pillar letter-boxes were also erected in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin ; they have been apnea extended to most con siderable places in the United Kingdom. In 1859 there were 825 head offices, 10,587 sub-offices, and 1958 road letter-boxes ; a total of 13,370 public receptacles for letters, against 4513 before the establish ment of the penny postage. London was also divided into 10 districts, each having a district head-office, by which letters posted in a district for a ueighbouring place are spared the loss of time incurred by trans mission to the chief office, and thus a more speedy delivery is attained ; and this division also greatly facilitates the sorting of inland letters ; but to effect this, the initial letters of East Central, West Central, North, East, South, West, North East, North West, South East, and South West, must be distinctly placed at the end of the direction after " London." A book, price one penny, has been published, distinguishing all the streets and places within the different districts.
Nearly every town of any size throughout the three kingdoms has at least two deliveries a day from and to its metropolis and the larger provincial towns. In 1859 there were 77 such towns added to the list. In the same year the mails within the United Kingdom were conveyed daily over 140,321 miles of way ; of this, 85,604 miles are by railway, at an average rate of 9td. a mile ; 32,936 by coaches, mail carts, fic., at an average of 21d. a mile ; 68,964 by carriers on foot, at an average rate of lid. a mile; and 2317 miles by packets and boats
between differentplaces in the United Kingdom, at rates varying from 5s. 61d. a mile to Id.
The total number of persons engaged In the service of the Post-Office for the United Kingdom was 24,802, on December 31, 1859, including 1 postmaster-general; 5 secretaries, assistant secretaries, and secretaries for Ireland and Scotland ; 15 surveyors; 18 other superior officers, such as heads of departments, chief clerks in the metropolitan offices, fic. ; 11,235 postmasters; 1682 clerks (exclusive of some employed temporarily) ; 197 guards ; 11,076 letter-carriers, messengers, fic.; 7 marine officers; 125 postmasters, clerks, 3:e., in the colonies ; and 61 agents in foreign countries. Of this number about 2000 are attached to the London staff, and (including this number) about 3300 are employed in the London district.
The third annual report of the postmaster-general for 1856, in an appendix, stabs that "in no part of the United Kingdom has more been done for the welfare of the people by the use of railways for carrying mails and by the penny postage system than in Ireland." In 1784 there were posts six days a week on only four lines of road ; letters to all other places being conveyed only twice or thrice a week.
Now there are daily posts to almost every village, and there is but one important town that has not two daily mails both with London and Dublin. In 1784 the whole expense of the office in Ireland was 15,0001., including salaries of provincial postmasters and the conveyance of mails. Out of this sum, 5500/. only was allotted to the provinces ; the sum allotted in 1856 for the like service was 134,0001., divided thus : —conveyance of mails by railways, 65,505/. ; by coaches and cars, 27,16S1.; by foot-messengers, 10,334/. ; and salaries and wages paid in provincial offices, 31,122/. In 1829 the cost of conveying the mail by mail-coaches was nearly four times the average rate of England; this excess has now disappeared, and in 1859 the average rate per mile was for England 2id., for Scotland 2id., and for Ireland 2d.
The same paper pays a just tribute to the exertions of Mr. Bianconi for the improvement of intercommunication in Ireland, particularly in reference to the transmission of letters.
The amount of postage collected at different towns in the United Kingdom (including the postage-stamps sold by the Post-Office and by the Board of Inland Revenue) shows some curious results. London, of course, through which passes nearly one-half of the total corre spondence of the kingdom, attains a great predominance, the amount in 1857 being 833,952/. ; Liverpool, with 255,000 inhabitants, contributed 104,8651.; while Manchester, with 316,000 inhabitants, only contri buted 89,765/. ; and Birmingham, with 232,000 inhabitants, but 42,107/. Bristol, with about 100,000 inhabitants (including Bedminster), fur nished 31,264/. ; Leeds, with 172,000 inhabitants, only 23,8441.; and Sheffield, with 135,000 inhabitants, no more than 16,565/. In Ireland the contributions were more in accordance with the size of the towns : Dublin contributed 60,391/.; Belfast, 15,5471.; Cork, 11,915/. ; and Limerick, 7115/. In Scotland :—Edinburgh, with 160,000 inhabitants, contributed 59,1771.; and Glasgow, with 358,000 inhabitants, only 68,877/. It must be recollected, however, that in many cases some towns are used as a sort of depot, from whence postage-stamps are dis tributed over a wider district than others.