I 4 i2 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



eight country postmasters. There was also a letter-carrier at Parramatta, who, however, 

 remunerated himself by a charge to the public of one penny on each letter or paper 

 delivered. The difficulty in connection with the conveyance of inland mails was 

 apparently overcome in 1834, since in that year we find the assistance of the mounted 

 police no longer needed, and regular mail contracts in active operation. In 1836, the 

 carrying on of the postal system began to show a loss. A return dated two years 

 before showed twenty-three existing offices, and the expenses of these, with that of the 

 mail contracts and the salaries of a staff of eleven officials in the head office at Sydney, 

 brought the expenditure for- the year up to ,2,874 ; the revenue for the same period 

 being ,3,735. This financially healthy state of affairs changed very much during the next 

 two years, however, and the postal accounts of the colony have .carried forward a yearly 

 deficit ever since. In the year last referred to, 1834, the number of letters dealt with 

 by the Department, in the course of the twelve' months, was 190,000, and a total distance 

 of about 2,960 miles had been travelled over in the conveyance of mails. The next year 

 the minimum weight of letters was raised to half an ounce, and the rates of postage 

 fixed at from fourpence to a shilling, for distances not exceeding twelve hundred 

 miles. The charge on a single letter conveyed 15 miles was 4d. ; 25 miles, 5d. ; 30 

 miles, 6d. ; 50 miles, 7d. ; 80 miles, 8d. ; 120 miles, gd. ; 170 miles, lod : 230 miles, 

 i id. ; 300 miles, i2d. ; one penny for every additional 100 miles, or part thereof. The 

 farthest point to which internal mails were then carried was Melbourne, for which a 

 special postage rate was fixed at fifteen pence per letter. Even at that early period 

 of the colony's history, the importance of allowing no obviable restriction to remain in 

 the way of the circulation of knowledge was recognized in the fact that newspapers 

 posted within seven days of publication were transmitted free through the post. When 

 it is remembered that for thousands of people then, as now, sparsely scattered up and 

 down the colonies, newspaper literature is practically the only available channel of 

 communication with the thought and action of the age, the good sense of this regula- 

 tion will be apparent. 



A vessel sailing in the required direction in those days was compelled to carry 

 letters, on payment to the master or owner, of a fee of one penny on each, for owing 

 to the irregularity of communication with the remoter parts of the colony it was found 

 necessary to make use of the first available opportunity that might offer. In 1838, stamp 

 covers were introduced and sold at is. 3d. per dozen, and allowed to pass free in 

 Sydney. In 1849, Sir Rowland Hill's great work of postal reform made its benefits felt 

 in New South Wales by the introduction of the pre-payment system by means of 

 postage stamps, relieving the customers of the Post Office of a world of inconvenience. 

 The postal rates were reduced to one penny for town and twopence for country letters, 

 the system of franking was abolished, and the first postage stamps were struck, the or- 

 iginal design being a copy of the great seal of the colony. Enthusiastic philatelists now 

 seek for these stamps as treasures for their collections, but of late years they have became 

 exceedingly rare. The inter-oceanic carriage of Australian mails was first spoken of as 

 early as 1834. In July of that year the feasibility of establishing regular mail communi- 

 cation between Sydney and London was energetically discussed in Sydney. In 1844, the 

 first monthly contract packet arrived from the United Kingdom. A difference of opinion 



