Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/592

Rh 570 POST-OFFICE [HISTORY. Number of Letters ; Gross and Xett Income, 1838-1857. Estimated C^ef nf Postage Year ending No. of Chargeable Gross Income. OSt OI Manage- Xett Revenue. charged on Govern Letters. ment.

Jan. 5, 1838 2,339,737 687,313 1,652,424 38,528 1839 2,346,278 686,768 1,659,509 45,156 1840 75,908,000 2,390,763 756,999 1,633,764 44,277 1841 168,768,344 1,359,466 858,677 500,789 90,761 1842 196,500,191 1,499,418 938,168 561, -J49 113,255 i 1843 208,434,451 1,578,145 977,504 600,641 122,161 IS 4 -* 220,450,306 1,620,867 980,650 640,217 116,503 ,, 1845 242,091,684 1,705,067 985,110 719,957 109,232 1846 271,410,789 1,887,576 1,125,594 761,982 101,190 1847 29^,586,762 1,963,857 1,138,745 825,112 100,354 1848 322,146,243 2,181,016 1,196,520 984,496 121,290 1849 328,830,184 2,143,679 1,403,250 740,429 115,902 1850 337,399,199 2,165,349 1,324,562 840,787 106,923 ,, 1851 347,069,071 2,264,684 1,460,785 803,898 109,523 1852 360,647,187 2,422,168 1,304,163 1,118,004 167,129 1853 379,501,499 2,434,326 1,343,907 1,090,419 124,977 1854 410,817,489 2,574,407 1,400,679 1,173,727 134,112 Dec. 31, 1854 443,649,301 2,701,862 1,506,556 1,195,306 185,236 1855 456,216,176 2,716,420 1,651,364 1,065,056 173,560 1856 478,393,803 2,867,954 i 1,660,229 1,207,725 154,229 1857 504,421.000 3,035,713 1,720,815 1,314,898 135,517 Briefly, within a period of eighteen years under the penny rate the number of letters became more than sixfold what it was under the exorbitant rates of 1838. When the change was first made the increase of letters was in the ratio of 122 25 per cent, during the year. The second year showed an increase on the first of about 16 per cent. During the next fifteen years the average increase was at the rate of about 6 per cent, per annum. Although this enormous increase of business, coupled with the increasing pre ponderance of railway mail conveyance (invaluable, but costly), carried up the post-office expenditure from 757,000 to 1,720,800, yet the nett revenue of 1857 was within 320,000 of the nett re venue of 1839. During the year 1857 the number of newspapers delivered in the United Kingdom was about 71,000,000, and that of book-packets (the cheap carriage of which is one of the most serviceable and praiseworthy of modern postal improvements) about 6,000,000. During the succeeding quarter of a century, 1858-84, the achieve ments of the period 1835-57 have been eminently surpassed. The postmasters - general of the new epoch have been assisted and seconded by a series of public servants, not a few of whom added to the conspicuous energies of Sir R. Hill more of those not less estimable qualities suavity of manner, tact in dealing with large bodies of inferiors, reverence for the good doings of past times than had fallen to his lot. Salient amongst such stand the names of Sir John Tilley, Mr Frank Ives Scudamore, and Mr Stevenson Blackwood. Among the postmasters - general the Earl of Elgin (1859), Lord Stanley of Alderley (1860), Lord Harrington (Decem ber 1868), Lord John Manners (February 1874), and the forty-fourth postmaster-general Henry Fawcett 1 (April 1880 to November 1884) hold eminent place. This period includes (1) the establishment of postal savings banks (1861), in which Mr Gladstone, as chancellor of the ex- 1 The Right Hon. Henry Fawcett (1833-1884), under whose excep tionally vigorous, able, and statesmanlike administration many improve ments of the postal system were introduced, was born at Salisbury in 1833. He was educated at King s College, London, and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and after graduating in 1856 as seventh wrangler began his studies for the English bar. A weakness in the eyes had occasionally interrupted his studies before the great calamity which befell him while out shooting in September 1858, when a gun accident totally deprived him of sight. The exceptional interest of his career lies in its com plete fulfilment of his resolution that he would not allow the calamity &quot;to interfere with his discharge of duty or the enjoyment of life.&quot; Even as regards physical exercise his resolution was practically ful filled, for he continued to engage in riding, fishing, skating, swimming, and rowing with as keen enjoyment as before. As regards the chief interests of his life the result of the accident was probably beneficial rather than otherwise. Returning to Cambridge, he devoted himself to the systematic study of political economy, and in 1863 he was chosen professor of that subject. In 1867 he was married to Millicent, daughter of Mr Newson Garrett of Aldeburgh, Suffolk, who assisted him in the preparation of several of his works on political economy, and also wrote independently on the same subject. The best known of Mr Fawcett s treatises is his Manual of Political Economy (1863). In this science he followed substantially the old lines, but a certain freshness attaches to his views from his deep practical interest in the welfare of the working-classes. After several attempts to enter parlia ment, he was in 1 865 chosen for Brighton, which he represented till 1874. Shortly after losing his seat for that borough he was returned for Hackney. On the accession of Mr Gladstone to office in 1880 he was made postmaster-general, and a member of the privy council. He died from pleurisy, after a few days illness, 7th November 1884. chequer, had a very large share, and (2) the transfer to the state of the telegraphic service (1870). The origin and growth of each of these pregnant improvements is narrated in a separate section of this article. Scarcely less important than these are (3) the introduction of postal cards (October 1870) and (4) the establish ment (August 1883) of a parcel post. The last-named measure will probably, in its results, prove to be a public boon of almost unexampled magnitude. At its outset it checks railway abuses, both of overcharge and of excessive delays, which had grown to be enormous evils. Minor but most valuable ameliorations of the postal service begin with the abolition of the half-ounce limit (1877), and include the provision of new and excellent post-office buildings, great improvement of the system of registration, extensive accel erations of mails in various parts of the empire, increased postal deliveries, and, not least in importance, a most just amelioration (greatly needed) of the position of sub -postmasters, of clerks, of sorters, and of letter-carriers. Certain minor improvements cannot be more briefly or better epitomized than in the words of a writer in the Standard newspaper of 10th January 1879. &quot;The half-ounce weights chanced to be just above the weight of a letter written on full-sized post paper, and, when that was the maximum weight allowed, the margin was so fine that a little thicker paper than usual, or slightly larger envelope, sufficed to turn the scale, and all but strictly business correspondents were continually landing those whom they favoured with their com munications in the annoyance of a surcharge for deficient prepay ment of postage. By the extension to an ounce all that worry and annoyance has been swept away, and no inconsiderable benefit has been conferred besides on people whose missives are of necessity somewhat more ponderous than ordinary. Quite recently the ] lost- office has introduced another great improvement, which the public, not having yet had time to appreciate, do not utilize to the extent it deserves, that is, the system of ensuring, which is little less than absolute security for money and articles of value sent through the post by means of registration. The fee for a registered letter, which was at one time as much as half a crown, and has within easy recollection been as high as a shilling, was reduced early in 1878 from 4d. to 2d., with the result that something like 6,500^000 of registered letters were sent in 1878, as compared with 4,316,000 in the previous year, and with 1,300,000 twenty years ago. This number would be largely increased if all the official registered packets were included. Not only has the fee been reduced to what may be considered the lowest possible point, but letters are registered by rural postmen on their rounds, and registration envelopes have been issued by the department to facilitate registration by the public. The envelopes have been devised with care, and seem well suited for the purpose, being strong as well as cheap. They are sold at prices varying from 2|d. to 3d. each (which includes the registration fee), and are in five useful sizes, from small note size to a large cover suitable for bankers and merchants. But the re duction in the charge and the sale of envelopes are not the only improvements which have been made in the registration system, for the post-office now undertakes to make good, up to 2, the value of any registered letter which it loses, simply stipulating, in the case of money, that one of its own envelopes shall be used. It is on every account most desirable that money and articles of value should not be loosely committed to the post, and with the facilities for transmitting letters securely which are now offered, people who choose to run the risk of loss deserve very little sympathy if the chance goes against them. As regards international communica tion it is enough to merely mention the beneficent results of the postal union, under which the postage to most places on the Conti nent and abroad has been reduced to the uniform rate of 2^d. for a letter not exceeding half an ounce in weight ; while to a second category of more distant places under foreign dominion the charge for the letter of half an ounce is 6d.&quot; Table VI. gives the estimate of the number of letters (only) ivhich passed in both directions between the United Kingdom and ? oreign countries and colonies in 1864. West Indies, Pacific, and Brazils 1,727,000 Belgium 924,000 Italy 827,000 Spain 617,000 Holland 600,000 France 6,771,000 Canada, British North America, and United States 4,865,000 Prussia, Hamburg, and Bremen 4,403,000 East Indies, China, &c. ..3,632,000 Australia 2,915,000 Total 27,281,000 There were also about 21,500,000 books, papers, and patterns. Meanwhile the estimated number of chargeable letters delivered Latest within the United Kingdom during the year had grown from statist! 504,421,000, at which it stood in 1857, to upwards of 700,000,000 (1885, 1 n 1867, and to 1,057,732,000 in 1877. In the year 1884 the lumber was reported 2 as 1,322,086,900 (exclusive of 153,586,100 )ost-cards). The growth of other departments of the postal service s fully in proportion to that of the letters of inland delivery, as nay be seen by the following tables (VII., VIII., IX.). 2 Thirtieth Report of the Postmaster -General, 1884, p. 1 ; cp. Slatis- ical Abstract of United Kingdom (1884), p. 157.