The Sun.
London, England, 1825-07-21 00:00:00

[MORNING HERALD.]

It is, we believe, above a twelvemonth ago,
that we published a letter from a correspondent,
suggesting a method for the more early delivery
of General Post Letters throughout London.—
That appeal having been unavailing, we are in-
duced to recur to the subject, as'one in which
the inhabitants of the metropolis are much, as
well as the revenue in some degree, interested.
The suggestion of our correspondent simply was,
that the several postmen should be carried to the
points of their different deliveries, insead of being
compelled, as they now are, to lose their time in
walking ; and that, for this purpose, half a dozen
or more, one or two horse cars, should be pro-
vided, which, taking the principal lines of the
metropolis, should drop each postman with his
bag as near as practicable to the commencement
of his delivery. By this plan it is calculated
that the average delivery of letters all over the
town would be advanced from one to two
hours, and in the farthest parts much more ;
independent of getting rid of the manifest ab-
surdity, of a man, whose business con-
sists in walking, being rendered foot-weary
before his labour commences. Only think
of a man, who, in this exhausting %Tea-
t her, has been from an early hour engaged in
sorting letters, having to trudge from Lombard-
street to Paddington, and there to begin a fresh
day's labour ! It is naturally asked what good
reason there can be for not adopting so plain and
obvious a suggestion ? There is no good reason ;
bit there are some very bad ones—the principal
of which, we suspect, are, that there are a num-
ber of people interested in its not taking place ;
and that as it does not originate with the factotum
of the office himself, it follows, by post-office rea-
soning, that it is a plan which can be neither wise,
practicable, nor convenient. It is said, and, we
believe, very truly, that those who choose to pay
for the accommodation can, as it is, have their
letters delivered two or three hours earlier than
their neighbours, and it is calculated that from
5,0001. to 10,000/. a year is actually paid by the
public in this way. Whether the money so re-
ceived is retained by the postmen, or divided be-
tween them and their superiors, is a matter into
which we have, of course, neither the means
nor the right to pry ; but recollecting what
took place with regard to foreign Journals
during the last war, there may be a very harm-
less hankering after something of the same kind
during the piping times of peace. But at any
rate, the plan cannot be objected to on the score
of expence, as less probably than the SUM which
is thus raised from the pockets of that part of the
public who pay for an early delivery, would, in
fact, assure it to the whole town. But the truth
is, that the expellee is already incurred. The very
same expence (or nearly the same) in carts and
horses, is incurred in collecting the letters from
the receiving houses in the afternoon, as would
suffice to carry the postmen to their destinations
in the morning. It only requires that the form
of the vehicle should be altered ; that the Post-
master-General and those about him, should con-
descend to take a hint, and that those who at
present profit by fees, should be contented with
salaries.