The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-08-15 00:00:00

THE POST OFFICE.

The following extracts are from The Timex' review of the
twentieth annual report of the General Post Office:—
The Postmaster-General is able to report the
establishment of 270 new post offices in the United
Kingdom in 1873, raising the total to 12,500, in-
cluding 880 head offices. The road letter-boxes,
too, were increased by an addition of 700 fresh
ones, making nearly 9,000 in aIL . . . As far as can
be ascertained by calculation, the number of letters
which passed through the post in 1873 within the
United Kingdom was about 907 millions' the
number of post-cards about 72 millions, of book-
packets 129 millions, and of newspapers 125 millions,
making a total of 1,233 millions of articles
posted. In every one of these there is an increase
upon the previous year to report, except in re-
spect of post-cards, which show a decrease of about 5
per cent. The Postmaster-General reckons the aggre-
gate increase at about 4 per cent., after allowing for
this trifling drawback; and in his appendix he shows
by statistical tables that whereas in 1839,—the last
year of high-priced postage,—three letters were
put into the post by each inhabitant of this land,
we now each of us on an average post 29, valentines,
of course, included. We have stated that the post-
cards are the only element which show a decrease;
but we do the. Post Office a wrong, for we have to
. . .

the London district there are now 560, so close to each
other indeed that, to use the words of the Report
'from almost any point in the thickly-populated
dortions of the metropolis one may be found within a
distance of a few hundred yards." The total of de-
posits, too, have shown an increase of about two
milliouq, so that at the end of the year there were 21
millions standing to the credit of the industrious
portion of the community. Lord John Manners adds a
word of warning to the effect that "considerable as
was the increase in such deposits last year, it fell far
short of what it might have been had habits of greater
sobriety and thrift prevailed in the large class that
was in the receipt of high wages, and had not trade
and agriculture been interrupted by lamentable
strikes and lock-outs." As to the depositors them-
selves, we learn here some curious and interesting par-
ticulars. In England and Wales, for instance, one in
every 16 persons has money in a Post Office Savings
Bank, but in Ireland only one in every 105 has become
a depositor. Where Pat, however, does make up his
mind to trust the Poet Office with his savings, he
does so with a hearty goodwill, for while in Eng-
land and Wales each depositor on an average has
£l4, in Ireland he has £l6 standing to his
credit. In Scotland, where we should naturally
expect to see men availing themselves of such a
means of guarding against future want, the average
of depositors and deposits stands about halfway be-
tween the two; but this is explained by the fact that
the ordinary banks north of the Tweed allow interest
on small sums of money. It is gratifying to learn, as
we do from this Report, that our Post Office Savings'
Bank system is being gradually adopted in our Colonies
and in foreign countries. It is gratifying also to
know, on the same authority, that the Post Office
Annuities and Life Insurances are steadily on the
increase. Those who are curious in the matter of
canine statistics may be glad to be informed that, in
spite of the recent crusade against dogs presumed to
be mad, the Post Office last year issued snore than
600,000 licenses to the British public for keeping dogs,
showing an increase of 40,000 over the returns of the
previous year.

Meantime, as the work of the Department increases,
so also does the staff of the office, the total of its
employe's being now about 42,000, comprising 12,500
postmasters, 9,000 clerks, and upwards of 20,000
sorters, carriers, and messengers. Out of this total,
nearly 9,500 belong to the London district, and of
these 5,000 are attached to the chief office in St.
Martin's-le-Grand. Our readers are already aware
that many female clerks are employed in the telegraph
work : Lord John Manners, however, informs us in
addition that last year, in pursuance of the arrange-
ment entered into a few years ago for the adoption of
female employment in the office, a new class of young
women was last year formed to act as clerks in the
Returned Letter Department, and that the Controller
reports most favourably of the result.
In conclusion, the ~'rose revenue of the Post-Office
last year was in round number no less than £5,348,000,
showing a total increase on the previous year of
£139,000 in the receipts for both postage and money
orders. The expenditure, during the same period, was
£3,793,000; and its increa upon that for 1872 was
only £lOB,OOO.