PILLARS OF THE PAST 313 



would produce £223, and in both directions of course 

 double that amount. 



If one-fourth be allowed for coach-conveyance, 

 £111 would be available as a payment to the coach- 

 contractors. It is not easy to say what was the 

 average distance traversed by a letter. Nowadays, 

 it is found that local letters form a very large propor- 

 tion of the whole. In mail-coach days, it is probable 

 that neighbouring towns, rather than very distant 

 ones, had the most correspondence with each other. 

 So perhaps a hundred miles would be a fair basis of 

 calculation. 



The Post-Office paid various rates for mail-coach 

 services ; but at a shilling the double mile, coach and 

 horses, going and coming a hundred miles, would not 

 cost more than five pounds per diem. So an available 

 income of £111 would leave a very large margin, not 

 merely for incidental charges in connection with 

 coach-service, but for disturbing factors in this rough 

 estimate. 



Printed matter at a halfpenny per two ounces, and 

 newspapers at a halfpenny for practically any number 

 of ounces — not to speak of post-parcels at the present 

 average postage of fivepence halfpenny for a little less 

 than an average weight of three pounds — necessarily 

 would swamp the calculation altogether, a result 

 which, perhaps, may be in the minds of those who 

 contend (rightly enough) that the Post-Office could 

 not get on without the railways. 



Only it is as well to bear in mind that a small 



