464 Mr. Commissioner Hill [April 4, 



to most of the towns in England and Ireland. A large number have 

 the advantage of two day mails, and some have even three or more. 

 In the metropolis under the old system there were but six deliveries 

 per diem. There are now eleven. Several of the suburban districts 

 have six deliveries a day. The measure which rendered these improve- 

 ments practicable was the division of the metropolis into ten postal dis- 

 tricts. It came into partial operation iu 1856, and is now almost com- 

 plete. Each of these districts is treated as a separate post town. This 

 arrangement has been followed by a vast and rapid increase of letters 

 posted and delivered within the London district. During the five 

 years preceding 1856 the average annual advance in the number of 

 metropolitan letters was only 3f per cent. By 1858 it had risen to 

 12 per cent. These letters far exceed the total number from all sources 

 home or foreign — delivered throughout the whole island of Great 

 Britain (London included) in 1839. They amount to 68 millions, 

 being only 8 millions less than the grand total of the United Kingdom 

 for that year. Subdividing London has also effected a considerable 

 acceleration in the first delivery of each day. Postage to and from the 

 colonies and foreign parts has been much lowered while the transit has 

 been greatly quickened. In 1839 the number of newspapers delivered 

 in the United Kingdom was about 44^ millions. At that date every 

 copy, by law, bore a stamp, which, however, had the advantage of 

 franking it when sent by post. This privilege furnished a strong motive 

 to proprietors and newsmen to distribute their impressions through that 

 channel ; whereas at present, if copies are sent by any other means than 

 through the post no expense is incurred in stamps. Nevertheless the num- 

 ber despatched through the Post-office last year reached 72t millions. 



The privilege of sending books and works of art by post at a reason- 

 able charge is one of Mr. Hill's improvements. Medicines, watches, 

 patterns, botanical specimens, seeds, and many other articles now pass 

 largely through the office, to the convenience of all, but more especially 

 of residents in the country : for it is not undervaluing the great benefits 

 we have derived from the multiplication of railways to remark that they 

 do not, and probably never can without the aid of the Post-office, dis- 

 tribute parcels even to all our towns much less to our villages and single 

 houses ; whereas the proportion of letters and other posted packets 

 delivered by the letter carriers at the houses of those to whom they are 

 addressed is now probably not less than 95 percent, of the total number 

 despatched. Of late years the rapid development of the book-post, which 

 dates from 1848, has been remarkable. In 1854 the number of such 

 packets was only 750,000, yet last year it had swollen to twelve millions. 



An important branch of the service, largely developed since the 

 institution of Penny Postage, is the system of money-orders. In 1839, 

 the total number issued for the United Kingdom was 188,921, and 

 the amount of money 313,124/. In 1861, the number reached 

 7,580,455, and the amount was 14,616,348/. And during that inter- 

 val, although the prices of money-orders has been reduced to one-half, 

 the growth of the system has been accompanied by a change most 



