the Post-Office on His Royal Highness the Duke of York and his heirsmales.

A Penny Post for letters and small parcels was set up for London and the suburbs in 1683, by an enterprising upholsterer named Robert Murray, and was afterwards assigned by him to a merchant named William Docwra. The Duke of York commenced a suit against Docwra, in the Court of King's Bench, for infringement of his privilege, and the defendant was cast in damages. In the reign of William and Mary, Docwra obtained a pension of £500 a year for a limited period, and in 1697 William III. appointed him "Comptroller of the Penny Post."

In 1698, his own officers appealed against him to the Treasury, alleging that "hee doth what in him lyes to lessen the revenue of the Penny Post Office, that he may farm it, or get into his own hands." They say "Hee stops under spetious pretences most parcells that are taken in, which is great damage to tradesmen, by loosing their customers, or spoiling their goods, and many times hazard the life of the patient when phisick is sent by a doctor or apothecary." Docwra was removed from his office in 1698.

In 1708, a Mr. Povey took upon himself to set up a foot-post, for the receipt and delivery of letters in London, Westminster, and Southwark, under the name of "the Halfpenny Carriage;" but this was suppressed by a lawsuit.

Some very interesting particulars, illustrative of the history of the PostOffice about this period, are contained in two letters printed in the Appendix to a Report on the Post-Office, presented by the Queen's command to both Houses of Parliament in 1855.

Had the space allotted to the present paper permitted, we should have given these two letters in extenso; but, as that course is impossible, we must content ourselves with the following particulars, which we have extracted from them.

On the interesting fact of the preservation of the records of general account since the year 1685, it is remarked that

"The General Accounts of the Post-Office, from the year 1685 to the present time (1855), are preserved in an unbroken series, and contain much that will repay the labour of inspection. In them, not only the quaint orthography peculiar to our ancestors, and varying from period to period, but the changes which were gradually wrought in the handwriting of the nation, may be observed; indeed, those who are curious concerning the latter changes, can nowhere so effectually study their scarcely perceptible, but not the less certain operation, as in the records of this establishment."

The comparison of the Accounts of the Post-Office for the year 1686-7, with those of the year 1854, exhibits some curious facts in the financial history of the Post-Office :

:

"We find, that while the whole net produce' of the establishment for a year was not equal to the sum which we derive from the commission on Money-Orders in a year, or to the present net produce' of the single town

·

of Liverpool; so also, the whole expenditure of the whole establishment for a year, was but a little larger than the sum which we pay once a month, for salaries to the clerks of the London Office alone.

"It is to be regretted that we have not the particulars of the Inland expenditure, viz., £1,601 7s., as they could not fail to be curious. One little bit of detail is vouchsafed to us, thus :-' Paid to Edward Lock of Hounslow, for a man to deliver letters at the camp, £4.'

"When we consider for what purpose the camp lay at Hounslow, how many plotters it contained, how great an issue hung on the loyalty of its inmates, and how deeply interested these inmates were in the result of the struggles going on around them, we may feel sure that a man has seldom carried for £4 per annum a load of letters so interesting as those which fell to the charge of Edward Lock's agent."

Writing of the year 1763, it is said :—

"A small revenue (about £1,000 per annum) was derived from carrying of expresses. Thus, for an express from London to Newcastle, the Post-Office got £3 3s., but it is to be supposed this was not the whole cost of the express, but only the portion accruing to the Crown.

"So greatly had the business of the Post-Office increased, that the charges for managing the Irish and Scotch Offices alone, in the year ending 5th January, 1761, amounted to the sum which we have seen to be the net prodace of the whole establishment in the year 1686-7.

"There was a small profit on the Scotch Office, which was neutralized by a small loss on the Irish Office.

"I have shown that the increase of the revenue from 1686 to 1764, was twofold, but that the increase from 1764 to 1854 has been tenfold; and if I have not shown how far the benefits of the present establishment transcend those of the establishment of 1764 or 1686, it is only because no mere accounts of receipts and expenditure can show, what nevertheless is certain enough, that the advantages enjoyed by this country, from the rapidity, the accuracy, and the cheapness of the circulation, are many more than ten times greater than those enjoyed by their forefathers."

The Post-Office underwent great changes during the reign of Queen Anne, a very important Act of Parliament (9 Anne, c. 10) having been passed for consolidating and re-organizing the whole department.

In 1784, John Palmer, manager of the Bath Theatre, finding the PostOffice coaches the slowest on the road-their speed averaging only about three and a half miles an hour-and knowing them to be more frequently robbed than any other conveyances, proposed building mail-coaches adapted to run at good speed, by horsing them liberally, and attaching an armed guard to each coach. Mr. Pitt, then Prime Minister, took up the idea and had it carried out; appointing Palmer, ComptrollerGeneral of Postal Revenues. Subsequently Palmer obtained a pension of £3,000 a year, and by Act 53 Geo. III. c. 157, a sum of £50,000 was awarded to him for his services. Palmer's was the first grand step made towards bringing the Post-Office service up to the public requirements of the time, and its financial success was complete.

From the introduction of Palmer's improvements the net revenue of the Post-Office, which in 1784 was £196,513, increased so rapidly, that in 1793 it had more than doubled itself, and in 1806 it exceeded £1,000,000 sterling.

In 1792, three Clerks in the Post-Office established the Money-Order Office, under a plan approved by the Postmaster-General of the time. It was originally intended for the transmission of small sums to soldiers and sailors; but the general public soon saw its advantages and availed themselves of the facilities it offered.

The business was carried on at the risk of the originators, and at their cost; the assistance given to them by the Post-Office being only the privilege of corresponding free of postal charges on the business of their office. The highest sum for which a single order could be issued was five guineas, and a charge of 8d. in the pound was made for that service.

In 1838, Lord Lichfield, who was then Postmaster-General, obtained the consent of the Treasury to the conversion of the Money-Order Office into a Government department; and on 6th December, 1838, the Chief Money-Order Office commenced business in two small rooms at the north end of the Post-Office building in St. Martin's-le-Grand, with a staff of three clerks. The amount of a single order was limited to £5, and a charge of 6d. was made for each order of £2 and under, and 1s. 6d. for each order above £2, and not exceeding £5.

In 1840, these charges were reduced to 3d. and 6d. respectively, the object being to remove as much as possible every inducement to send coin through the Post. The rapid growth of the Money-Order Office is unparalleled out of the Post-Office. During the first year the transactions numbered 377,556, and amounted to £624,851. The commission taken on these transactions amounted to £6,652. In 1811, after the reduced rate of charge was introduced, the transactions reached 3,113,055 in number, and £6,267,603 in amount; while the commission rose to £29,192, being about four and a half times what it was under the higher charges of 1839.

In 1814 the accommodation afforded by the Chief Office in Lombard Street was found to be too limited, and arrangements were made for erecting the present Post-Office in St. Martin's-le-Grand; which, however, was not completed until 1829, when it was opened for use.

The first mails conveyed by railway were those between Manchester and Liverpool, commenced in 1830.

The next great step towards progress, and also towards making the Post-Office more popular and more useful, was the pamphlet on Post-Office Reform, published in 1837, by Mr. Rowland Hill. Everybody knows that the main feature of the plan proposed by Mr. Hill was a uniform rate of one penny for letters not exceeding half an ounce in weight, quite irrespective of distance, within the limits of the United Kingdom and the

Channel Islands. The project was investigated by a Royal Commission, and also by a Committee of the House of Commons. The Report of the Committee was most favourable, and during the Session of Parliament which followed the publication of the Report of the Committee, 2,000 petitions were presented to Parliament praying for the adoption of Penny Postage. The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Baring) brought in a bill to authorize the system being carried into effect, and after passing the Commons by a majority of 100, it became law on August 17, 1839. On the 5th December, 1839, the charge on London District Post letters was reduced to a uniform rate of one penny, and the postage on all other inland letters to fourpence per half-ounce. The parliamentary privilege of "franking," which had been in operation since the time of the Long Parliament, was abolished. On the 10th January, 1840, the uniform rate of one penny came into operation, and continues in force to the present time; with immense advantage to the trade and commerce of the country, as well as to the education of the people; and this great work has been accomplished so economically that there is actually a considerable net revenue derived from its operations.

On the 6th May, 1840, Postage Stamps were first introduced, and became at the same time a means of simplification of its business to the Post-Office, and a vast convenience to the public.

Having now given a brief general sketch of the history of the rise and progress of the Post-Office, we propose next to look into its organization, and afterwards to take note of those statistics of the department which will show what a vast amount of labour this great establishment performs for the public.*

From the estimates for the year 1861-2, recently laid before Parliament, we learn that the Post-Office army consists of 25,323 men; and this enormous force is classified, distributed and arranged, in such a manner as to give even the uninitiated a good general idea of the wonderful organization of this vast establishment; and to convince any one who doubted it, that the details of its management must occupy unceasing attention and unwearying watchfulness at head-quarters.

Of the 25,323 employés, 25,233 are engaged in the home service, and 90 in the colonies and in foreign countries. The distribution of the home service is this-There are 20,548 postmasters, clerks, and lettercarriers in the Provincial offices of the United Kingdom, and this vast army is locally superintended by 13 District Surveyors, and 66 Assistants. The whole is under the central control of the Chief offices in London, Dublin and Edinburgh; each capital takes charge of the service in its own kingdom, and the three employ 4,348 persons.

* In the article on "Post-Office Savings' Banks," which appeared in the last number of this Magazine, we omitted to acknowledge our debt to Mr. Scratchley's work on Savings' Banks for the figures therein used, explanatory of a portion of the deficiency of 4 millions in the assets of existing Savings' Banks.

These officials are under the superior control of the Postmaster-General, aided in London by a Secretary and two Assistant-Secretaries, and in Dublin and Edinburgh by a Secretary. Each of the Chief offices is divided into several departments, and each department is managed by its own immediate chief. These departments are again subdivided into branches, which are directed by subordinate chiefs.

The Postmaster-General is now always a Peer, and generally a Cabinet Minister he is not a permanent officer, but changes with the Ministry. The Postmaster-General holds his office by patent granted under the Great Seal. He has the power of appointment to all offices in the General Post Offices in London, Edinburgh and Dublin; as well as to all Postmasterships in England and Wales where the salary is not less than £120 per annum; and to those in Scotland and Ireland where the salary is £100 a-year and upwards.

Amongst those who have occupied the position of Postmaster-General during the last thirty years we find the names of the Duke of Richmond, the Marquis of Conyngham, Lord Maryborough, the Earl of Lichfield, the Earl of Lonsdale, the Marquis of Clanricarde, Earl St. Germans, the Earl of Hardwick, Lord Canning, the Duke of Argyll, Lord Colchester, the Earl of Elgin, and at present, Lord Stanley of Alderley.

During the present century the office of Secretary to the Post-Office has been in the hands of only three persons, Sir Francis Freeling, Colonel Maberly and Sir Rowland Hill, the successful introducer of the Penny Postage.

The invaluable services rendered to the public by Sir Rowland Hill in successfully introducing the Penny Postage under great difficulties, have had but a comparatively scanty pecuniary acknowledgment from that public which has derived such an enormous advantage from its operation. The practical recompense which the Government bestowed upon him, by giving him a most laborious office, and presenting him with only the ornamental reward of knighthood after twenty years of hard labour, shows how tardy the British Goverment is in rewarding the most brilliant civil services.

The Postmaster-General and the Chief Secretary are aided by two Assistant-Secretaries.

The Post-Office in London is divided into seven departments, each department being controlled by its own immediate chief, who is responsible to the Postmaster-General for the good management, discipline, and duty of his office.

These Departments are named as follows:-The Secretary's Office, the Solicitor's Office, the Receiver and Accountant General's Office, the Mail Office, the Money-Order Office, the Circulation Office, and the Medical Department.

The Secretary's Office consists of the Chief Clerk and seventy-four clerks in three classes. The Solicitor's Office comprises the Solicitor and