28 RECORDS OF OLD TIMES 



employed agents to call at the turnpikes in their 

 districts and collect the tickets. These asfents 

 waited on the postmaster every month, who com- 

 pared and checked off the entries with the tickets 

 collected, and when the amount was ascertained the 

 money was paid. These men were harpies who 

 exacted the uttermost farthing, and if inadvertently 

 a date was wrong, or even a penny omitted, 

 cumulative fines were imposed. I remember a 

 monstrous instance of this form of exaction. 

 Through a misapprehension of the law, a post- 

 master had entered two pence short in one of his 

 sheets, and this had been carried on about eight 

 times, during a period of six months, the total 

 amount omitted being one shilling and fourpence. 

 Well, fines were inflicted amounting to nearly 

 1,500/. ! After considerable litigation the action 

 was compromised for 50/. The grossest tyranny 

 was practised, the Act of Parliament being strained 

 to the utmost. Eventually a meeting of the post- 

 masters of England and Scotland (Ireland being 

 exempt, which I could never understand) was held 

 in the Freemasons' Hall, London, presided over by 

 Mr. Shillibeer, the famous Undertaker, and the first 

 man to introduce the omnibus into England. He 

 had been a great sufferer under the iniquitous 

 system. A deputation waited on Mr. Disraeli, the 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lord Derby's 

 first administration, who promised to assist in 

 destroying this last remains of ' farming ' the 

 revenue, but the Ministry suddenly came to an end. 



