The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-31 00:00:00

the poorest class of the community; nor must it be
forgotten that the postage stamps form a very con-

Ninth, Report of the Postmaster-General.
Year 1362.

Whoever takes a comprehenaive view of the Post-
office and allows his mind to dwell long enough on
the various services it daily renders to the tom-
minty, will assuredly class it among the most
important of our institutions. By a very slight
effort of the imagination we may fancy that it
realises the long sought after, but undiscovered
principle of perpetual motion, for its machinery
never ceases. It is incessantly active, both on land
and water, and might appropriately take for its
Mat) the
regio in terris nostri non plena
laboris?" for its agency extends to the remotest
parts of the habitable globe. It is the great agent
of civilisation and commerce, and discharges its
functimos with a regularity that is truly astonish-
ing. Letters, books, mercantile circulars, diverse
small articles, and money, are distributed by its
means with punctuality and despatch, and entitles
it to the distinctive title of the great "wheel of
circulation," which Adam Smith applied to another
instrument. From year to year fresh demands are
made cn the energies of the Post Office, and it
proves itself equal to all emergencies. It is always
penetrating new districts, and multiplying advan-
tages to the old. In the London district alone
11,000 additional houses were built during the last
year, "2,300 within the town limits, and more than
9,400 in the suburbs," In the more important
provincial towns there is a proportionate increase
in builded area, As education spreads, which
it does rapidly, the number of those who
can write is annually augmenting! and adds to the
labours of the administration. The penny postage
was established in 1839, since which date down to
1862 the increase of letters transmitted through
the post has been 529,000,000, or very nearly eight-
fold the number since the uniform rate was intro-
duced. How rapidly and continuously the advance
has become appears from the fact that the returns
of 1862 exceed those of 1861 by 12,000,000. In
the London district alone the number ot letters
is now nearly double that of the whole United
Kingdom prior to 1839. The proportion of letters
to each person is 24 in England, 19 in Scotland,
but only nine in Ireland. This gives a melancholy /
picture of the Emerald Isle, whether ae regards
contrast
trade or education. Without instituting a m
parison between it and England, the
between it and Scotland is humiliating and depress-
ing, Ireland being greatly superior in territorial
area and populsttion. These Post-office statistics
show too clearly the backwardness of the country,
and the value of the silly boast of its being inha-
bted by the " finest peasantry" in the world. That
they are a warm-hearted, affectionate race, hold-
ing strongly together by the ties of family, is
abundantly proveable by very many well-known
facts, from which it might be assumed that episto-
lary communication would be frequently among re-
lations, and from its absence we can only infer that
the grossest ignorance prevails among the lower
orders, that is to say they can neither write nor
read. Now, Who deprives them of the advantages
which cheap and rapid postage present to their ac-
ceptance? Certainly not the British Government,
which has organised and sustains the mail service,
though it is falsely charged with all the inferiority
visible in the land and the people; but it would be
a:gicalt for the most brazen impudence to affirm
that it deprived the finest peasantry of the privilege
of acquiring the rudiments of knowledge. The pain-
ful fact remains that they have it not, and the
blame must _rest with those who keep them in
mental slavery. This is one of the truths that all
may learn who rightly view the Poet-office system
in ail its bearings.
As to trade, it appears that the increase of
printed circulars has been unusually great, and
during the last year at the London office the in-
crease faas been more than 11 per cent. over the
preceding year. It would be a rash inference that
this was evidence of expanding trade ; it is, indeed,
proof of a very contrary state of things, for it shows
the difficulty of effecting sales, arising from the
want of means in the pockets of willing purchasers.
It is notorious that to all the suburban districts
circulars are not only sent through tho post but are
delivered by hand from large metropolitan esta-
hEshtnents. It isa direct method of advertising, as
the circulars are sure to come under the eye of
thoeo to whom they aro addressed, which is not so
certain in newspapers. These missives are designed
to draw customers from the local shops to a central
depoeitery, where bu"siuess is conducted on a scale
of magnitude, and the cost would not be incurred
if trade were brisk. This practice has long been
resorted to by tailors—we beg pardon, we ought
to have written " merchant clothiers ;" but
recently it has been followed by tea merchants of
large business and well-known provision dealers and
imparters of genuine foreign wines on an extensive
scale. If, then, we put a right interpretation on this
portion of the Post-office statistics, and deduce from
them the true knowledge they impart, we ought to
conclude that trade is not so prosperous as some ac-
credited authorities represent, if the old saying be
Ulu, that none know where the shoe pinches so wail
tEithose who wear it. These circulars are but flags
of
Aistrees hung out to attract customers to the
re4ea • t• Such invitations or decoys are never issued
"Callt order peessure, and are clear p
e,„t-roofs that an
establish is not self sustaining.
The p
Office is the poor man's bank, and in
that character
It is the b discharges a very useful function,
:tmeet instrument for transmitting small
sums of
ey
when letters are registered, and
when they are
The
fee of course it is the fault of the
, was always trifling in its per-
centage, and recently it has been reduced from 6d.
to 4J On inlaid l'ittera containing money, the
registry has been
the L
measures
approveeuagsuusrte,e, where alone. these
sottaftrct
The public evidently
haesr2y:otfnoeirno‘fnOteth:etli compulsory
since last
increase of registered
letters in 1862 comparee
•Nvlth The number
of 1861 has
been 37 per cent. r of letters come
000 58,
pulsorily registered was , • Asa consequence
the number of applieatl"! '3,threieeine_ letters at
the London • office has decline(' °7l'"Ore than one-
half ; but this reform has been attended 117 a
much
more cheering result. oln the last%natter of
1861 four London letter-earriere were etealioet
'l°ll' ter
stealing cash letters; in the correspendi. ng uof
of 1862 not one was even charged with
.aacl, Qn
offence." This rule of compulsory reglarap,4
will be extended to all parts of the country- t
however, notified that even when a letter is regis.\
tered the Post Office does not absolutey
guarantee
its security and delivery with its contents untouched,
nor can it lilt some alteration is made in an act of
Parliament; but even under the law au it exists the
risk incurred by the public is reduced to a minimum,
as it appears from the following official statement :
" During the, last half of 1662, out of about
900,000 registered letters posted ha the United
Kingdom, whether for delivery at home or abroad,
the whole number lost was only 12, viz., seven in-
land and five foreign or colonial letters, although
there were some other letters which it was declared
had been opened. The bank-notes, coins, or other
available property stated, upon what was considered
good evidence, to have been contained in the last
mentioned letters, amounted to less than £2OO (1:62
°_f which was in places abroad), while the total
'toeunt of such property in the 12 lost letters was
"1Y £9 ss. 6d."
The
letter.earriers and other officers of this de-
partvnent
are, of course, interested in whatever ar-
raegemee .
t dtrainiehes temptation to theft and
throws ittiDe•
kuroent9 in the way of its successful
p~jr • tratiou
, end where it is committed they are
t' at de,
glad-11 'et''" is made the more easy, as the
innocent are hot involved in suspicion. This is
one of the, benefits „rising from registration, and
an auxiliary system is introduced called " re-
re
ducee the number of
strictly° sort g;.:vh•wichh the
hands through Lie letters pass, and thus
eseilitatts the traclnL'er eo-re In the United
loin there are --?'" nac,tie
ngu Y•order offices; in
nrly of the
the intention :et already
o include
all within their rang° at no distant
ate. This
method of circulation is now. very
a sensed~
rable
and it is annually on the increa..see tseit
,elhase e the
SUM thus distributed' was g-4",1- rtt4 the
number of orders Was 7,587.045, the average value
of elien being about 10s. No hanker would line".
take the tranamissien of such trifling sums, so that
here the Post Office renders a most useful service to

writer.

their advant9ro.

sham•, and we pre:iu.
•

venient currency, for they are practicaliy ;%e signs

of money. Money orders were at first noti allowed
to exceed £5 ; now they may be obta'nEd for £lO.

The Post Office renders effectual Service to edu-
cation by the cheap delivery of book packets. In

862 the number of these was 14,000,000, being an

ncrease on the previous year of 1,700,000. It acts

also as the distributor of news and of politiccal

opinion. In 1862 it circulated 73,000,000 news-
papers, or half a million more than in 1861. In
this manner it indirectly aids the various trades

connected with literature.

The latest career in which the Post-office has
embarked is that of savings banks, commenced in

September, 1831. The scheme has proved highly
successful, for during the year 1862 accounts were
opened by 180,000 depositors. In the same period
there were in England and Wales, 1,933; in Ire-
land, 300 ; and Scotland, 299 of these banks con-
nected with the Post-office. Since the beginning
of the current year there has been an addition
of 332 banks, and the deposits with the interest
figure for £2,952,296. These institutions have
been largely used by friendly, provident, and
charitable soeieties, and by the managers of penny
banks. It is observed in the report that " one
important advantage of Post-office savings banks is
that they give any person the power of making a
in any part of the
deposit or taking out money
country in which be may happen to be, without
reference to the place where his account was origi-
nally opened. This power is largely used. Last
year there were not fewer than 20,872 such deposits
and 15,842 withdrawals." The old savings banks
are expiring under this competiiton,:and the volun-
tary retirement of the trustees of 36 such esta-
blishments is already recorded, and £340,000 have
been transferred from them to the Post-office banks.

The new transactions have become so numerous
that they extend to 114,000 books.
The ocean mail service, chiefly performed by
Private companies under contract, is admirably
conducted, and the punctuality with which it is
Executed is one 07 the most wonderful achievements
of this wonderful age. A few examples cannot fail

to interest our readers. " The arrival of the mails
via Marseilles, dispatched from Sydney, New South
Wales, distant nearly 13,000 miles, on the 22d
September; from Calcutta, distant 8,000 miles, on
the 10th October; from Shanghae, distant upwards
of 11,000 miles, on the 19th, and from Hong Kong,
distant upwards of 10,000 miles, on the 27th Sep-
tember ; the mails were all due in London on the
18th November, at midnight, and they arrived one
hour and ten minutes before that time." The mails
sent from Southamton to the West Indies and
Central America have arrived at their destination
at the precise moment when they are due; and
those from Chili, after having been carried across
the Isthmus of Panama, have been delivered at
Valparaise, 9,000 miles from Southampton, two
hours before the appointed time. Transit, there-
fore, is calculated with as much certainty by sea as
by land—a distinctive triumph of human intellect,
attesting the skill of the naval architect who con-
structs the machine, and of the navigator who
acquires an absolute master over its operations. To
keep up this regularity the fleet of steam ships,
their tenders not included, is 96, with an aggregate
of 140,000 tons, and of 36,000-horse power. The
largest and most powerful vessel employed in this
service is the Scotia, of 3,871 tons and 1000-horse
power; and the smallest is the Vivid, `,.of 300 tons
and 128 bores power, which runs between Dover and
Calais and Dover and Ostend. This Post-office fleet,
if we may so call it, is manned by a force of 8,000
sailors and officers, and 33 naval agents who are
officers in the royal navy. Such is a rapid outline
of this administrative machinery, as admirable as it
is complicated, as useful as it is wonderful.
The next question is the cost. The net gross re-
venue properly appertaining to the year 1862 was
£3,777,304, an increase over that eflB6l of 1114,306.
The expenditure was £2,540,363. The net revenue
described as " the difference between the adjusted
gross revenue and adjusted expenditure," figures for
£1,236,941. If, however, the whole cost of the
packet service were placed to the debit of the Post-
cffice, instead of part of itbeingessigned to political
purposes, the net revenue would be reduced to
£742,681. The staff of the Post-office consists of
25,380 persons, and this number includes agents in
foreign countries for collection of postage. As a part
of the internal administration, in which the public
at large have no direct concern, we must mention
the Mutual Guarantee Fund, which relieves the offi-
cers of the department subscribing to it of the ne-
cessity of giving bonds. A very small payment per
head is found to be sufficient, as defalcations are
rare. The system has been adopted for several years
at the chief offices. In the Loudon office there are
now more than 2,700 such subscribers, 297 clerks,
and 2,428 letter carriers, sorters, and messengers.
It is the practice of the officers to insure their lives,
the Post Office paying part of the premiums—
and this rule has been followed by some of the
great railway companies. Candidates for admission
into the service are examined by a medical officer.
In the year 1862 there were 173 candidates exa-
mined, of whom 21 were rejected as physically
unfit for the duties. It is recumniended that none
shall be appointed who have not been vaccinated,
or taken the disease naturally. Out of this section
of the report two facts may be mentioned, as they
interest many persons. Rheumatism and diarrbeea
have been less frequent and less intense since
Mackintosh capes have been discontinued ; and it
is said, from the experience of the medical officer,
that railway travelling is not attended with injuri-
ous effect to the healthy and strong if it be not ex-
cessive ; but that those who begin it at 25 or 30
years of age are more liable to suffer from it than
hose accustomed to it from an earlier period of life.

Extensive Dock Projects at Cardiff,

The rapidly advancing port of Cardiff at the present time
possesses most extensive dock accommodation, but the trade
of exportation of coal and iron has for the last fear or five
months proved so great that the docks have been crowded to
excess, while numbers of ships wait their turn in Penarth
roads. The existing dock accommodation consists of the
East Bute dock, acreage 45a 3r 3p ; West Bute dock, acre-
age 19a 3r 2p; tidal harbour,:about 10a; Glamorganshire
canal, about 14a (used by shipping) ; Penarth tidal harbour
and Penarth dock (almost completed), about 13a. From
600 to 800 vessels visit the port monthly, and during one
month of the present year upwards of 150,000 tons of coal
were exported alone. The trustees of the Marquis of Bute
\b‘tezave given notice of application to Parliament at the next
47 mien for permission to construct new docks, and so ex-
..Z.vreeha.ve been the projects proposed that they will al-
ez,„,__` wee a lifetime for 'their accomplishment, and the
rim-Zautt eta more.than two millions of money. The Car dif
posed n,ZaAoveeek issues a map of the port, with the pro-
scriptive km,_ks, &c , accompanied by explanatory and de-
_From it we find the new docks are three
with the amount of lands, &c., for
a space of some 500 or 600 acres.
winhallruvine number,
4
raking the deeZ,::sa
torder, the first which receives atten-
flloiantine
hich, as regards position, lies in a
docks. This sheet ee.:ll..atrexisting East and West Bute
present "cut," and ite'
44. will be a large extension of the
ctio°lllaiinsutot
entered by a largo basin zti).! about 40 acres. It will be
sufficient water at all states 40: gtates, and there will be
entrance at any time. To the,,tltlde to allow for exit and
be the new south-westerly dock,ttun
of
amain
floating dock will
floating dock. Its area will be auttt,2leg parallel to the
entered by the basin leading to the 15:Zitsores, and it will be
south-easterly dock will be the largest ,44._1000_k. The new
whole, having an area of GS acres and water of the
In position
,it will lie diagonal to the tieZ of 12 acres.
the dock, the
northern extremity inclining' to east. 4,3 A
t_
of
water on the sills at high spring tides be eidt'atitta
it will consequently admit ships of very largo burdenn
Among other works is a landing pier, which will 1,4,1,600.
yards long and 300 yards below low water mark. Its
tion is to the east of the floating and south-easterly doek,,,
it is at an angle of about 45 degrees to the floating clod:,
and at almost right angles to the south-easterly dock. It
will also act as a breakwater to protect the shipping from
easterly winds, and in that respect will act an important
part in the economy of that system of commercial develop-
ment which this gigantic Echerue will aid in carrying en'.

[A rIVERTISEMENT.]—HoIIoway 'IS Ointment.—All va-
rieties of ulcerations, sores, wounds, and eruptions can be
cured by the diligent use of ibis cooling, soothing, and
healing unguent. The old and often failing fashion of
strapping the edges of ulcers together with plaister has
entirely given way before the more reasonable treatment
by Holloway's Ointment, which builds up from the bottom
of the wound with sound and healing granulations ; these
gradually grow till they reach the level of the surface, than
contract, harden, and immediately become covered with a
new and wholesome skin. The proper application of this
Ointment diminishes the inflammation, causes the un-
healthy discharge first to grow thick, then to cease, when
the swelling disappears, and the natural shape is restored.