POSTAL COMMUNICATION.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 115, 26 November 1858, Page 4

POSTAL COMMUNICATION.

"Of all inventions, the alphabet and the printing press alone excepted, those inventions which abridge distance have done most for the civilization of our species." Such is the reflection of one of the most distinguished writers of our age. An early importance, the more singular, perhaps, because the system appears rather the offspring of advanced civilization, was attached in semi-civilized nations to postal communication. The couriers of Persia are highly extolled by Herodotus ;' those of China, who are preserved to the present day, were^ noticed with admiration by Marco Polo: the use of runners for conveying letters was customary to many of the Oriental, nations in remote ages; and the caravan serais and chovvks erected by Akbar and Aurungzebe, yet excite the curiosity of the antiquarian. The Spmish conquistadors relate how the Mexican courier, bearing his painted hieroglyph, conveyed intelligence with a rapidity truly marvellous from every part of the Aztec nation to the court ot Montezuma. Posthouses were situated on the main roads, distant about two leagues from each other, and despatches were carried at the rate of 200 miles a day. The Peruvian gui pas were conveyed along the magnificent causeways of the Incas with still greater regularity and despatch; and thus, while in .England roads were impassable, markets inaccessible, a journey from one county to another almost as dangerous as an expedition on the Arctic ice, and while the inhabitants of London were as far removed from Edinburgh as they are now from Moscow —in countries whose political existence has ceased—there was in operation an organised system of internal communication. * Posts appear to have been first established in England merely for the conveyance of public despatches, or for facilitating the movements of persons travelling by the authority of Government. Communications between private persons were mostly transmitted by the itineiant attenders of fairs; and even until a very late period, in Scotland important missives, in which the secrets, safety, and honor of families were concealed have been confided to the care of the gaberliinzie man. King's messengers, however, were In former times the only. recognised letter* carriers. As early as the reign of King John the entries of payments to Nuncii for carrying letters may be found enrolled in the Close and Misos Rolls. These Nuncii generally provided their own . means of travelling; but in the reign of Edward 11. the Nunciius was able to hire hois ■s at fixed posts. As, however, the nation emerged Irom the darkness of the medio-val ages, and the mists of feudalism were dispersed before the dawn of civil and religious liberty, the advantages of safe, regular, and speedy communication began to attract attention. Part of the policy of the Tudor princes, Edward IV. and Henry VIL, the ultimate object of which being to crush the oligarchical powers of the barons, was to elevate the condition of the middle classes. This could only be effected by a system of centralization. It therefore became a matter of importance to connect the provincial towns with the metropolis, and facilitate communication between them. It is related that in 1481 Edward IV. established, during the Scottish war, at certain posts 20 miles apart, a change of riders, who oonveyed letters at the rale of 200 miles a day; but until the accession of the Tudors there seems to have been no effort made to organise regular public posts. The first post-office, at which letters were received for transmission or delivered to their address, was established in 1581 under the auspices of Thomas Randolph. Its insignificance may be.judged of from the very little information respecting its operations which has come down to us. James I. some time after initiated a system of regular internal post, which a view of establishing a communication between England and North Britain ; and during his reign a postroffice for foreign service, described as " for the accommodation of English merchants," came into existence under the management of William Tizell and Thomas Witherings. In ,1639 the postal regulations ofthe preceding reign were continued by Charles 1., and three years afterwards a running post was established between Edinburgh and London, which travelled night and day, and performed the journey, to and fro, in six days. All these establishments were subsequently swept away by the calamities of the civil wars; and none, perhaps, were ever successfully carried out. They failed partly from their own imperfect machinery and partly from the disorders of tho times.

The most complete step in the establishment of a post-office was taken in 1656, when an Act was passed to settle the postage of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The preamble set forth " that the erecting of one general post-office for the speedy conveying and re-carrying

ofletters to and from all places within England, Scotland, and Ireland, and into several parts beyond the seas, hath been and is the best means, not only to maintain a certain and constant intei course of trade and commerce between all the said places to the great benefit of the peopie of those places, but also to convey the publique despatches, and to discover and prevent many wicked and dangerous designs which have .been and are daily contrived against the peace and welfare of this commonwealth, ;the : .' intelligence whereof cannot well be communicated but by letter; of escript." It also enacted that there shall be one general post-office' and one officer styled the PbstmasterrGeneral, of England and Comptroller of the post-office. It was impossible to overlook its advantages, cumbrous and imperfect as it was in operation; and the benefits, which resulted from its :introduction into any locality Were such ;that its progress went on rapidly.: In the reign of Charles 11. a daily communication was at length opened between London and the fashionable watering places, the royal residences, and those towns near the metropolis ; but the remote provincial towns were as yet only once or twice a week. The. mails, were carried on horseback at the rate of five miles an hour, and were frequently exposed to hii_*hway robbery.. At present, by.aid of the Telegraph and the press, the Queen's speech to her Parliament is flashed to Edinburgh, and read by thousands, almost before the ceremony of un opening or proroguement is over. Up to the end of the 18th century little advance took place in perfecting the system of home communication ; rtnd to show the contrast between Government laxity, and individual enterprise, it is worthy of remark that so late-as 1784, a gentleman writing to the journals of the clay observed that while a private diligence could perform the journey from London to Bath in seven hours, the post took forty. It is not imnrobable but this may have attracted the attention of Mr. John Palmer, Who was the Comptroller-General of the Post Office, for in the following' year, at his instance, the system of contracting with coach proprietors for the conve3'anee of mails came into operation. The first mail so conveyed, was carried on the 2nd; August, 1785; from London to 'Bath. Since that date an idea of'what progress has been made in the mode of conveyance may be collected from the following facts :—The mails conveyed by railroads in the United Kingdom during the last year travelled over a space, each week day, of 30,000 miles; those by wheeled vehicles 33,000; those on foot 65,000; and those by steamers, packets, boats, &c, nearly 3000 miles. It is now impossible, for until lately no records have been kept which would snnply data, to ascertain, s'nee the fiisi establishment of daily posts, the relative proportion at remoter periods of the number of letters then delivered with the present delivery. It would be most interesting to compare this progress—so significant ofthe advance of education. We are not, however, totally without the means of instituting such a comparison, although the figures extend over a limited area. The following shows the weekly delivery of letters for a few years subsequent to the passing of the Postoffice Act of 1839 :— 1839 .1.58.5.273 1841 ... 3,846,122 1842 4.202.546 1843 ... ... ... 4,349,213 At present the number of letters annually delivered in the United Kingdom amounts to 504..000;000 or 420,000,000 over that of 1839, the weight of which is 3515 tons. The bulk in newspapers and letters delivered in one year alone, would freight the Leviathan. Yet so excellent are the arrangements at the General Post-office, London, that this vast quantity, amounting to nearly a million and a half daily, is delivered before nine a.m.

We cannot dismiss this subject without a few words on that most excellent innovation in postal arrangements generally known •as/Rowland Hill's plan; one of the few instances in which the speculations of a theorist have been carried out into successful operation. The objects Mr. Hill had in view.in laying before the British Government his proposal fpr uniform postal rates were—lst., a great diminution in the rates of postage; 2ndly., increased speed in the delivery of letters; and 3rdly., more frequent opportunities, for their despatch. The rate, irrespective of distance, was. to be uniform, and limited to one penny for single letters. The penny stamp, though afterwards applied, to the projection, did not originate with Mr. Hill, but was proposed by Mr. Charles Knight. In December, 1837, a select committee of the House of Commons, sat on the question, and reported in favor of the plan. The Bill was carried on the 17th August, 1839; the uniform postal rate became law; franking was abolished; and postage stamps introduced. Much stress has been laid on the originality of this famous project, but its claims to novelty are less than its merit as the daring application of a theoretical principle founded on profound calculation. The true value of Mr. Hill's plan consists in the executive, not the conceptive faculty. Of its originality we need scarcely say, that had Mr. Hill's fame rested solely on the conception of a principle, he might now have been regarded as an ingenious schemer, not as a public benefactor. Nor perhaps would even this praise be conceded, for the idea of cheap postage seems to have been practically illustrated long before. • So far back as the reign of the Merry Monarch, one William Dockwray set up a penny post, which delivered letters and parcels six or eight times a day in the busiest streets of the city of London, and twice a day in the suburbs. The design proved lucrative, and excited the jealousy of the Duke of York, who, considering it an infraction of his monopoly, obtained a decree in his favor a«ainst the originators. To Mr. Rowland Hit 1,, however, is"due the credit of a complete revolution in postal

matters,• and the beneficial .result of the plan cannot be overlooked. Putting aside the indirect advantages to society, let us see what effect the introduction of cheap postage has had on the revenues of tlie post-office. It was supposed at the time of its application that so great a deduction in the rates would change the general postoffice from a lucrative source of revenue into a costly burthen on the state. For the first few years the revenue was reduced to one half of its previous amount, but.by this time the new arrangementsfpr improving the 'internal economy of the establishment had been perfected, and a gradual increase ensued which has at the presenttime brought the revenue of the post-office to the same amount' it realised* before the introduction of cheap postage.

; At the Restoration the net revenue amounted to .120,000. This at the close of the .reign of Charles 11. had swelled !to £50,000. .In 1688 it produced £65,000; in 1711 the gross revenue was £111,426 ; and from this date, to. 1740, ihe average yearly net revenue was £97,540. The following 'tables, though incomplete, give a clearer statement: — Revenue before the Introduction of Cheap Postage. Year. " Gross receipts. Net receipts. . 1758 ......... 222,075 ......... 73,730 1769 ......... 305,058 -. 164,760 ' 1779 ......... 402,918 ......... 139,248 1786 506,500 285,975 1799 ......... 1,012,731 657,388 1816 ......... 2,192,741 1,526,527 1837 ......... 2,206,736 1.511,126 1838 .'*.......'_ 2,346,278 .1,536,000 1839 2,390,763 ...1,533,000

Revenue since the Introduction of Cheap Postage. Year. Gross receipts. Net receipts. 1840 ......... 1,342,604 694,000 1841 1,495,540 ......... 426.000 .1842 1,578,145 591,000 1843 1,535,215 672,000 1844 ..1,705,067 638,000

. The gross receipts during the year 1857, amounts to £3,034,713, and the net revenue £1,322,237; this latter sum is within? a fraction of the total revenue of Great Britain in 1688. The increase is gradually going on—in the above return of 1857 V*e increase was 127,849 over the receipts of the previous year, and this in spite of the enormous deduction in the postal rates. Taking the average rates of 1839, the public were then charged 23d. for a sea letter; and 7d. for an inland letter, which jssW costs only one penny. To gain an mate of the magnitude of the establishment now existing,'it'may perhaps be interesting to .know that the staff employed in the United Kingdom exceeds in number the army we have sent to reconquer India; it exceeds the amount of the population of Bristol at the time ofthe Revolution, then considered as the second city in England ; it is nearly equal to half the British force engaged at Waterloo; or that glorious band of heroes who in olden times withstood the Persian hordes at Marathon. The number of employees mustered on the 31st December, 1857, was 23,731.