681 



POST-OFFICE. 



POST-OFFICE. 



averaging only 3578J. 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. 



Eitablidiment, Cult of Management, <tc. The head of the PostOffice 

 in styled the Postmaster-General, under whose authority are placed all 

 the post-offices in the United Kingdom and the colonies. The office 

 wag formerly held by two persons. It is considered a political one, 

 and the holder relinquishes it with a change of ministry.' The Com- 

 missioners of Post-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 

 wan 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 Poet- 

 Office were kept until shortly before the introduction of Sir Rowland 

 Hill's system. Founded upon a very careful examination of the 

 bet data, the numbers, the result of very elaborate calculations, are 

 appended to the ' Report of the Commons' Committee ;' as here 

 subjoined : 



Yearly Number Average rate Yearly 

 Description of Letters. of Letters. per Letter. Revenue. 



d. 



Packet and ship letters . . . 3,523,572 23-1562 369340 



General-post inland letters above 4</. 46,378,800 9-2224 1,782,191 



Ditto, not exceeding 4rf. . . . 5,153,200 J-5 75151 



London local-post letters . .11,837,852 2-3206 114,':53 



Country penny-post letters . . 8,030,412 1 33,483 



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 600 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 150,00<M. 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 700,000^. ; 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 Post- 

 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 1807, 1808, and 1813. 



In 1838 a plan calculated not only to increase the utility of the 

 Port-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 department. 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 

 sound reasoning, proposed to effect 1, a great diminution in the rates 

 of postage ; 2, increased speed in the delivery of letters ; and, 3, more 

 frequent opportunities for their despatch. He proposed that the rate 

 of 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 

 Mr. Hill states that this idea did not originate with him. A uniform 

 rate of a penny was to be charged for eveiy letter not exceeding half 

 an ounce in weight, with an additional penny for each additional 

 ounce. Mr. Hill discovered the justness and propriety of a uniform 

 rate in the fact that the cost attendant on the transmission of letters 

 was not measured by the distance they were carried. He showed on 

 indisputable data that the actual cost of convoying letters from 



