The Press.
London, England, 1854-02-25 00:00:00

MAILS AND RAILS.

THE incessant delays that have arisen in the distri-
bution of letters by the General Post-office for some
time past have occasioned continual complaints from
the trading classes in London. Under the impulse
of these remonstrances the Post•ofce authorities
have made inquiries and taken steps with the view

FEBRUARY 25, 1854

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of tracing the irregularities to their source, and of
providing a remedy. The first result of this move-
ment has been the issue of a circular letter from the
Postmaster-General addressed to the several railway
companies with whom the fault is alleged to lie.
Although the blame can attach only to certain spe-
cial lines, the letter is addressed to every board with-
out exception, because, as the secretary states,
" it will be best that each body of directors should be
put in possession of the whole case, though the Postmaster-
General distinctly recognises the limitation of each com-
pany's responsibility to the conveyance of the mails over
its own line within the prescribed time, and does not ex-
pect that one company should make up for the time lust
by another."
The allegations with regard to the past, and the
injunctions for the future, which are now put forth
by the authorities at St. artin's-le-Grand, may be
understood by the following extracts from the circu-
lar :

" Directing attention at present only to the night mail-
trains, as those most urgently requiring correction, it ap-
pears that in the month of November (taken as compara-
tively free from special causes of interruption) the time
actually occupied very frequently exceeded that allowed for
the service.
" It will be easily understood that want of punctuality in
a mail-train not only causes a corresponding retardation
in the delivery of the letters on the main line, but also, by
dislocating the arrangements for branch mails, produces
an amount of derangement and inconvenience extending
throughout the whole ramification of the service.
" Nor can this irregularity be justly attributed to insuffi-
eiency in the time allowed by the Post-office, which, for
the night mail-trains between London and Glasgow and
Edinburgh, by whichever route, exceeds that taken by the
companies for their express-trains on the same lines, and
this after making ample allowance for the additional stop-
pages required for the mail service.
" The real source of delay is to be found, partly in stop-
pages at stations where they are not required by the mail
service, but principally in the excessive traffic thrown on
the maibtrains, much of this being of a kind commonly
excluded from express-trains; as, for instance, third-class
passengers, private carriages, horseboxes, and fishtrucks.
In facts the night mail-trains are generally much too long
and too heavy to admit of the service being duly per-
formed; and it is essential that they be at once brought
within proper limits—a change which might, perhaps, be
facilitated by putting the trains in question on the footing
of first-class express-trains.
" That such a reduction of traffic would tend greatly to
the desired result is shown by the fact that the mail-train
leaving Scotland on the Sunday, being of moderate size, is
generally punctual, at least until it has made considerable
progress to the south.
" The swift and regular conveyance of the mails must
be regarded as the one essential object of the mail-trains,
and to this all minor considerations must be sacrificed. It
is for the performance of this duty, and upon this under
standing, that the companies are paid; and to fail therein,
unless from occasional circomstances beyond control, is to
withhold from the public that which it has purchased at a
large cost.
" If, with regard to any of the mails now in question, it
be thought that the compensation awarded has been made
on a different understanding, his lordship is ready to re-
open such award, in order that the matter may hencefor
ward be placed on this its proper footing, and all doubt as
to his right in every case to claim and enforce the mostex-
act punctuality be removed.
" In thus urging on the directors measures essential to
the right working of the Post-office system, his lordship
would suggest for their consideration whether the adop-
tion of such measures would not tend equally to the con-
venience of passengers and the benefit of the companies.
" It surely must be important that the conveyances
bearing her Majesty's mails, which have usually been se-
lected with marked preference by the travelling public,
should maintain, and even extend, that reputation for
speed and punctuality on which such preference is based.
And, independently of this consideration, when, as in the
present case, several companies have to work in concert, it
is obviously to the interest of each that all should be punc-
tual; and the Postmaster-General has, in fact, been
strongly urged by certain of the companies concerned in
running the mats in question to exact punctuality from
the others.
(Signed) " ROWLAND HILL."

THE PEOPLE OF SINOPE made an excellent business of
the presence of the English and French fleets at that port.
Oxen, sheep, calves, and even buffaloes, went off at almost
fabulous prices. A wether, which usually sells there for 30
piastres ((is.), brought lt. sterling; beef fetched 5 piastres
the okka (of IP.), a fowl 10 piastres, and an egg
piastre. Now, for Sinope, where money is so scarce, and
the necessaries of life are usuall so chea, these are ex-
traordinary prices. Had the fleets remained mu much longer
at Sinope, the stock of provisions must have been soon ex-
hausted, since the impracticable state of the roads, owing
to the bad weather, had precluded the possibility of any
quantity being brought in from a distance. On an average,
10,000 piastres were daily paid away from the fleets. The
house of the Anstrian consular agent, M. de Pirjaniti, was
regularly besieged the whole day by the visits of officers,
who came, some to compliment him on his conduct during
the bombardment, and others to ask for various informa-
tion. He was also treated with much respect and con-
sideration by Admirals Pundits and Hamelin, and was re-
peatedly invited by them to dinner.