104 The Dumfries Post Office, 1642-1910. 



repealed in the course of a few weeks. That the penny stamp 

 which franks a newspaper from London to Dumfries and from 

 Dumfries to Stranraer, should not afford the same protection at 

 the Nine Mile Toll-bar, on the same line of road, is indeed an 

 absurdity. It may be true that small side posts hardly pay ex- 

 penses ; but they are a part of the general system — conduits which 

 feed those larger cisterns of correspondence which contribute 

 rather handsomely to the revenue of the country. ''^^* 



In consequence of these high rates of postage the advantages 

 of the postal service to the community in general were greatly 

 restricted, and, as was to be expected, illicit means of com- 

 munication was adopted in order to evade the payment of postage 

 altogether. Thus one correspondent writing to a friend says : — 

 " I send this by the blind carrier, so that it may be some time upon 

 the journey." In a later communication the same correspondent 

 writes in regard to the foregoing : — " This anticipation proved but 

 too true, as my learned correspondent did not receive my letter 

 until a twelvemonth after it was written. I mention this circum- 

 stance that a gentleman attached to the cause of learning who now 

 holds the principal control of the Post Office may consider 

 whether by some mitigation of the present enormous rates some 

 favour might not be shown to the correspondents of the principal 

 Literary and Antiquarian Societies. I understand, indeed, that 

 this experiment was once tried, but that the mail coach having 

 broke down under the weight of packages addressed to members 

 of the Society of Antiquaries it was relinquished as a hazardous 

 experiment." 



This, however, was by no means the only evil from which the 

 Post Office of that period suffered. The system of " franking," 

 with its attendant abuses, is too well-known to call for special 

 mention here. Originally designed to enable members of Parlia- 

 ment to keep in closer touch with their constituents, the system 

 rapidly developed into an illicit means of communication, and it is 

 recorded that in 1838 the number of franks which actually passed 

 through the Post Office was estimated at about seven millions. 

 Some idea of the loss thus occasioned may be gathered from the 

 following interesting reference : — " I had a great postage to pay, 

 my letter being weighty by the papers that were inclosed ; and by 



49*. " Dumfries and Galloway Courier," "Wednesday, March 

 :29th, 1837. 



