170 THE COACHING AGE. 



not admit of the passengers being allowed to carry a 

 great amount of luggage — in fact, I should expect 

 the majority of them had but little to carry ; but 

 on the other hand, there were persons who, in order 

 to avail themselves of the benefit of the reduced 

 fare, would travel by the coach, trusting to no notice 

 being taken of any excess in the weight of luggage, 

 and feeling quite at ease on seeing it put on the coach 

 without first undergoing the test of the weighing 

 machine. Had they but known what the practice 

 was on the arrival of the coaches at the King's Head, 

 their equanimity might have been somewhat dis- 

 turbed. » 



On arrival the coaches were taken into the yard, 

 the passengers' luggage was unloaded and weighed, 

 and an extra charge was made according to the dis- 

 tance it had been carried, and the excess of the weight 

 allowed ; and thus in some instances it might turn out 

 that, although ostensibly cheaper, in fact it was a 

 dearer coach than the others, with the further draw- 

 back of being much slower. 



This unexpected levying of what was looked upon 

 as black-mail, used to produce something stronger 

 than what Mr. Akers, one of the mail inspectors, 

 denominated 'severe observations,' when a portion of 

 a gentleman's luggage was taken ofi" the mail in the 

 General Post Office yard. 



