56 History of Inland Transport 



for the running of mail coaches at the then equivalent to 

 " express " speed. The permanent officials of the Post Office 

 naturally regarded such a scheme, proposed by a rank outsider, 

 as impracticable, if not absolutely absurd, and Palmer had a 

 sturdy fight before he got his way. The experimental service 

 started in 1784 was an immediate success, and when it became 

 known that letters were being carried between Bristol and 

 London in sixteen hours, every other important town or city in 

 the country (Liverpool being one of the first to petition) 

 wanted to have its own postal arrangements improved in the 

 same way. Thus there was inaugurated a " mail-coach era," 

 which was to continue unchecked until the first despatch of 

 mails by railway in 1830. 



The earliest of the mail-coaches travelled at a rate of about 

 six miles an hour ; but, as the roads were improved, the speed 

 was increased to eight, nine, ten or even twelve miles an hour. 

 The time for the Liverpool-London journey, for example, was 

 eventually reduced to 30 hours in good weather and 36 hours 

 in bad. 



The running of these mail-coaches had a powerful influence 

 on the whole question of road improvement, since the 

 attainment of the best possible speed and the avoidance of 

 delays in the arrival of the mails came to be regarded as 

 matters of supreme importance ; while more and more of the 

 ordinary stage-coaches were put on for travellers to whom 

 the lower fares l were of greater concern than high rates of 

 speed. 



Mail coaches had the further good effect of stimulating 

 great improvements in coach construction. The use of springs, 

 in particular, allowed of a more compact vehicle, carrying 

 luggage and outside passengers on the roof instead of rele- 

 gating them to a basket " conveniency " behind. The com- 

 petition, or, at least, the example of the mail-coaches had the 

 further result of increasing the speed of the " flying " coaches, 



1 The fares by the stage coaches generally worked out at 2^d. to 3d. 

 a mile outside, and 4d. to 5d. a mile inside ; and those by mail-coach at 

 4d. to sd. a mile outside, and 8d. to lod. a mile inside. An outside place 

 on the Edinburgh mail-coach cost about J\ guineas, and an inside place 

 nj guineas, exclusive of tips to coachmen and guards at every stage, and 

 meals and refreshments en route. C. G. Harper, in " The Great North 

 Road," estimates that the total cost of a journey from London to Edin- 

 burgh by mail-coach was, for an outside traveller, 1 1 guineas, and for an 

 inside traveller 15 guineas. 



