5 o ANNALS OF THE ROAD. 



lamp. All this alone cost each guard 5s. a-week. Still 

 it was better to be at work on 10s. than to be a 'super- 

 numerary ' on 1 2s. 6d. a-week, having to attend the Post 

 Office all day long in readiness to go off; for the guard 

 generally expected 2s. a-piece from outside and 2s. 6d. 

 from inside passengers, besides what he could get for 

 extra luggage, &c. All fares under $s. the guard and 

 coachman were allowed to divide between them. 

 Election time was good for them, for the ' last state of 

 the poll ' was always worth 5^. 



The passenger rates on stages were generally from 

 2\ji. to 3d. a mile for outsides, and for insides about 4 1 d. 

 to ^d. Mail charges were much higher, viz. from <\\d. 

 to $d. outside, and Sd. to lod. inside. 



The expense of horsing a ten-mile-an-hour mail was 

 from 555. to 3/. per double mile for twenty-eight days. 

 Say if 3/. per .double mile, the mail, to pay, must earn 

 390/. a year of thirteen lunar months. 



It required eight horses in summer and nine in 

 winter to horse a mail or stage ten miles of ground to do 

 ten miles an hour. 



In connection with these details of the services 

 and remuneration of those employed on the road, we may 

 refer to the various driving clubs, which from time to 

 time have been founded by those interested in coaching 

 affairs. Some have had for their object the gratification 

 of the passion for the whip, others the raising of the 

 standard of skill in the class of coachmen, amateur or 

 professional, and others some benevolent purpose. 



The B. D. C, or Benson Driving Club, which took 





