POST OFFICE 



of relays was reorganized, and the 

 guard of the coach became a postal 

 servant responsible for loss of 

 time en route. As a result, the 

 average speed of the mail-coach 

 was quickened from six to ten 

 miles an hour, including stop- 

 pages. In 18315 the distance from 

 London to York 197 miles was 

 covered in the scheduled time of 

 20 hours. But already the end 

 of this era was at hand. The first 

 tentative dispatch of mails by 

 train was made in 1830, between 

 Liverpool and Manchester. 



THE PENNY POST. In 1837 a 

 great postal reform was pro- 

 pounded by Mr. (afterwards Sir) 

 Rowland Hill. At that time post- 

 age rates were determined by 

 distance ; the lowest charge for 

 a letter was 4d., the average rate 

 7d., and the cost between Edin- 

 burgh and London was Is. 3Jd. 

 Hill published a scheme for a uni- 

 form penny postage throughout 

 the kingdom, and, despite opposi- 

 tion, this became operative on Jan. 

 10, 1840. Devised as a mail-coach 

 service, it was rendered a gigantic 

 success by the advent of the rail- 

 way. Prepayment by means of 

 postage-stamps replaced the old 

 cumbrous system of collecting 

 dues on delivery, and helped to 

 swell the triumph of the penny 

 post. In the first quarter-century 

 of its existence the average num- 

 ber of postal packets received 

 yearly in Great Britain rose from 

 5 to 42 per person, and the post 

 office was enabled to pay a largely 

 increased revenue to the treasury. 

 On the average at the present time 

 74 letters are received yearly per 

 head of the population. 



Later devices for improving the 

 letter service include postal sort- 

 ing-carriages on the railway, special 

 trains conveying only mails on 

 certain routes, and the ingenious 

 apparatus by means of which 

 letters are delivered from, and 

 collected by, trains running at 

 express speed. The registration of 

 packages containing valuables 

 dates from 1792. Imperial penny 

 postage was instituted in 1898 and 

 penny postage between the U.K. 

 and the U.S.A. in 1908. 



Changes During the Great War 



In the Great War the penny post 

 for letters disappeared. In 1918 the 

 postage was increased to ld. for 

 4 ounces, and for postcards to Id. 

 In 1920 letters (up to 3 oz.) be- 

 came 2d., and postcards l$d. In 

 1924 the rates were ld. (2 oz.) 

 and Id. 



Among the secondary functions 

 of the post office as a public ser- 

 vant, the earliest in date is its 

 money order business. In 1792, to 

 lessen the sending of cash through 



629O 



the post, six postal clerks, with the 

 sanction of the postmaster-general, 

 introduced a system of " money 

 letters," by which a letter of ad- 

 vice, instead of actual money, 

 was transmitted by post. The de- 

 partment assumed control of this 

 system in 1838, and extended it 

 to other countries. The " money 

 letter," renamed the " money 

 order," proved highly popular. 

 But in 1881 the issue of postal 

 orders for fixed amounts diverted 

 a great deal of public patronage to 

 this simpler and cheaper method 

 of making payments through the 

 post office. 



The post office savings bank, 

 established in 1861, to encourage 

 industrial thrift, has become a 

 national institution, and holds the 

 savings of small investors to an 

 aggregate of over a hundred mil- 

 lions sterling. The machinery of 

 the savings bank proved invaluable 

 in promoting popular investment 

 in war bonds during the Great 

 War. The parcel post, introduced 

 in 1883 as an inland service, has 

 since been extended to almost 

 every corner of the globe. 

 Telegraph Service 



The transmission of telegrams 

 was at first in the hands of various 

 private companies. In 1868 the 

 postmaster-general was empowered 

 by statute to maintain electric 

 telegraphs. Two years later all 

 the private inland systems were 

 transferred to his control, and 

 he was granted virtually ex- 

 clusive rights in the dispatch of 

 telegraphic messages within the 

 kingdom. Certain overseas cable 

 systems remain in the hands of 

 business companies. The length of 

 telegraphic lines now owned by the 

 post office is approximately 

 187,000 miles. 



Wireless telegrams now come 

 within the scope of the P.O. The 

 wireless stations on the coasts of 

 the U.K. were acquired by the 

 Government in 1909-10, except 

 those at Poldhu and Clifden, which 

 are worked by the Marconi Co. 

 In 1921 the first station in the 

 imperial wireless chain was opened 

 at Leafield, Oxfordshire. 



The history of the post office 

 telephones resembles that of the 

 telegraphs. Bell's instrument, in- 

 vented in 1876, formed the basis 

 of several systems evolved by rival 

 companies whose interests were 

 ultimately united in the National 

 Telephone Company in 1889. But 

 the company's activities clashed 

 with those of the department, and, 

 after a long fight, the great com- 

 mercial system was transferred to 

 the post office. 



Other modern extensions of 

 post office business are the issue 



POST OFFICE 



of licences for local authorities ' 

 and for the inland revenue board, 

 the sale of national health insur- 

 ance stamps, the distribution of 

 old age pensions, and, during the 

 Great War, the payment of sol- 

 diers' and sailors' allowances and 

 the creation of a field post-office 

 service for the troops. The pay- 

 - ment of allowances involved a dis- 

 tribution of about 2,200,000 

 weekly to some 2,700,000 persons, 

 and the army postal service grew 

 to enormous size, about 12,000,000 

 letters being handled weekly. (See 

 Army Post Office.) 



Profits and Costs 



To-day the departmental head- 

 quarters are established in a huge 

 block of buildings at St. Martin's- 

 le-Grand in central London, with 

 the money order office hard by in 

 Fore Street, and the savings bank 

 at West Kensington. But the 

 tentacles of this greatest of govern- 

 ment offices extend throughout 

 the United Kingdom, and 14,000 

 lesser post offices are under its 

 control. 



In addition to the clerks and 

 other officers common to all 

 government departments there 

 are certain positions peculiar to 

 the post office staff. Women are 

 largely employed as clerks, writing 

 assistants, sorters, learners (for 

 training as counter clerks and 

 telegraphists), and telephone oper- 

 ators. Boy messengers, whose age 

 must be under 14 on entry, are 

 given permanent employment if 

 their conduct is satisfactory. Some 

 are chosen by competitive examina- 

 tion to be trained as telegraphists 

 and counter clerks ; others be- 

 come postmen. 



The net revenue of the post office 

 in 1913-14 was 32,783,000, and 

 the expenditure on wages and 

 salaries was 15,730,000. In 1920- 

 2 1 the net revenue was 58, 1 78,000, ! 

 and the expenditure on wages and j 

 salaries 45,000,000. On the postal j 

 service there was a surplus of 

 900,000, but a deficit of 4,000,000 

 on telegraphs and 4,200,000 on 

 telephones. The budget estimate 

 for 1921-22 was 60,000,000, and 

 to meet an expected deficit of 

 3,500,000 the postmaster-general 

 increased the price of stamps for 

 postcards from Id. to ld., which 

 was expected to produce an extra 

 million, as was also the higher rate 

 for printed papers. A saving of a 

 like amount was expected from the 

 abolition of the Sunday delivery. 

 This deficit was entirely due to the 

 payment of a war bonus to postal 

 servants. 



In 1921 a council of business 

 men to assist the P.M.G. was ap- 

 pointed, and a board consisting of 

 the heads of the most important 



