POST; MAILS; LETTERS. To trace the influence of the postage system on the industry and commerce of the country is quite beyond our present bounds. Whether as re gards the internal machinery of the great establishment in St. Martin's-le-Grand; the wonderful effect of the penny postage rue; the rapid transit of letters by railway ; the establishment of ocean mails ; or the surpris ing results of money orders—the subject is indeed a vast one. We can give only a few figures in reference to it.
The increase of letters has been at least eight fold since the reduction in the rate of postage. On the 5th of December, 1839, the change was made from distance-rates to a four penny rate ; and on the 10th of December following a further change to the penny-rate was made, The following are the total num bers of letters which passed through the post offices of the United Kingdom in the last twelve years, beginning with the year when the first partial change was made Year. Number of Lettere.
1839 76,000,000 1840 160,000,000 1841 196,500,000 1842 208,500,000 1843 220,500,000 1844 242,000,000 1845 271,500,000 1846 299,500,000 1847 322,000,000 1848 320,000,000 1849 337,500,000 1850 347,000,000 In the year 1851 we may take one million letters per day, Sundays included, as a very near approximation to the probable number. In the year before the alteration (1838) the gross receipts of the post-office were 2,407,210/.; the net receipts were 1,676,522/. In 1849, the gross receipts were 2,213,149; and the net receipts 840,787/.
The conveyance of the letters from one part of the kingdom to another is effected by contract between the postmaster-general and the coach and railway proprietors. In the year 1839 the number of miles travelled by mail coaches was 7,377,851, at an average speed of about nine miles an hour. At the present time all the mails from London are conveyed by railway, with the aid of branch coaches to convey them beyond the reach of the railways. Contracts are entered into with the various companies and the rates deter mined partly on the probable number of letters, and partly on the length of line. In 1840, the General Post-Office paid to the Railway Companies for conveying letters and news papers the sum of 253,586/. The mileage per formed by the trains which conveyed the letters and newspapers was upwards of 20,000,000 miles.
Among the many admirable contrivances for facilitating the post-office business of railways, is Mr. Dicker's apparatus for giving and re
ceiving the bags at each station. The appa ratus is used by many of the great companies, and is about being used by more. The post stations are more numerous than the passenger stations ; or, more correctly, the mail trains do not stop at certain minor stations, which must yet have their regular bags of letters ; and as the throwing of the bags to or from the platform during a speed of 30 miles an hour would be very uncertain work, another plan is adopted. The station keeper adjusts the bag which is to go from the station ; and the mail-guard adjusts that which is to go to the station. The station has a delivery standard, and the mail-carriage has a receiving net; the two bags are hung loosely, respectively, en the standard and on the edge of the net ; and while the train is passing rapidly by the station, the edge of the net catches against the station-bag, whisks it off a kind of hook, and deposits it in the net which is spread open at the side of the carriage; at the same in stant the carriage.bag is caught against the standard, and thrown down upon the platform, or else enclosed in a net.
In respect to foreign countries, there are contracts in force with steam-packet com panies for the conveyance of mails from England to various parts of the world. The amount paid for this service in 1849 was 748,296/.
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. Od. to Od. for sums above 2/. and not exceeding 6/. ; and from 6d. to 3d. for sums not exceeding 2/. The number of offices empowered to grant money-orders has been increased, and, other facilities have been granted. The consequence 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 £49,490 Jan., 1840 .... 40,763 67,411 5 Jan., 1841 .... 189,984 334,052 5 Jan., 1849 .... 4,203,727 8,151,295 5 Jan., 1850 .... 4,248,891 8,152,643