Page:The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago.djvu/139

Rh (that is, the additional revenue brought to account by Deputy Post-masters beyond what they had been originally charged with in the Inland Office) amounted to £133 5s. 4½d.; the overcharges in the same period amounting to £16 10s. 7d. To what amount errors, either of taxation or telling, may have escaped correction it is not possible to ascertain; and we do not offer this statement as any criterion whereon to found any calculation of the extent of the differences that may have arisen upon the accounts at large. In one instance of recent occurrence, which has fallen under our inspection, a short charge of £16 4s. against a Deputy Post-master, (as admitted by himself,) appeared within a period of twelve days: in another, a sum of £7 4s. 7d. was added by a Deputy Post-master to the charge of one day. It has, however, been stated to us that the duties here alluded to never were so accurately performed as of late."

It may be here remarked, that the Post Office authorities do not appear to have availed themselves of the means afforded by the wonderful powers of the machinery of the present day, for facilitating and rendering more certain the different operations. The present varying rates of postage, no doubt, present a great difficulty; still I do not hesitate to say, that it would be quite practicable to construct a stamp which at one blow should impress both the date and the required charge, whatever that may be, and register mechanically both the number of letters stamped, and the total amount of postage charged; and that the use of such a stamp, so far from retarding the operations, would, in all probability, much accelerate them.

As regards the Cross Posts, such a machine would be invaluable. Its use would render loss to the revenue from fraud or even error, next to impossible; while at present, however unsatisfactory the mode of accounting for the direct postage may be, that of accounting for the cross postage, which amounts to nearly £800,000 per annum, is even more so.

The following is part of the evidence of Mr. Robert Watts, an