"POSTE HASTE."

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 267, 10 November 1934, Page 7 (Supplement)

"POSTE HASTE."

To denote quick delivery it is a common expression to use, the term "post haste." To find the origin of the phrase we must go back to the .time when Henry VIII. was on ths throne. In those days the country had nothing like the regular postal service which we enjoy at present. Couriers took dispatches and letters! from one place to another, and only wealthy people could afford to avail themselves of such a service which, when any great distance had to be traversed, was very costly. In the sixteenth century postmasters • and relays of horses were establiehed at the principal towns for carrying messages, and the postmasters endorsed on the letters the times at which they received these. The letter carriers proved themselves to be rather irresponsible folk who often lingered on the road to play games with acquaintances or sat for hours talking and drinking in the public rooms of inns. A very drastic law was soon put.into effect that all dkpatJi riders "should ride for their lives," and this was literally true, for the penalty for any loitering about en route was hanging. Letters of the sixteenth century were often ornamented with a drawing of a dispatch rider hanging from a gallows, and beneath the figure was the admonition: "Haste, post haste! Haste lor thy life!"

This law held good for many years, and the cases of hanging were not few. The drastic step was sometimes taken where it was more than doubtfu whether the delay was really the unfortunate man's fault. Gradually a lesser penalty was inflicted if the delay was not due to a messenger being bribed or coerced into allowing someone else to read the dispatch which he carried. Only within the last 100 years has the simple plan of dismissal in such cases been applied, but the old expression "post haste" still lingers.