Evening journal., 1896-11-09
FIRST NAIL COACH.
1T MADE ITS APPEARANCE IN ENG
LAND IN AUGUST, 1894.


Pretty Strong Opposition.
ITO Trade Expedition and Property
Protection" This was the legend on the
mail coach halfpenny struck to com
memorate the introduction Of the mail
coach by John Palmer Of the Bath thea
ter on Aug. ?. 1884, an undertaking
which is not without its oSfect today.
The careful student Of TIE Postal
Guide" will not fail to notice what ia
cilities ayo open to him for the trans
mission of important letters. Over and
above frequent collections and conven-
iently late hours for posting, he can hand
his letter in at railway station parcels
Office he can post in late letter boxes at
the station serving the district for which
his letter is intended, while up to the
last moment there hangs outside the
sorting van a box into which letters may
be dropped preparatory to being whirled
away throughout the length and breadth
Of England at tho rate Of 80 miles an
hour, and to be delivered next morning
at many a distant breakfast table.
To appreciate TO the full the present
state Of postal facilities, one should
look at the system under which mails
were carried prior to the Palmer era.
For two Or three centuries before the
first mail coach ran the post was carried
by men or boys on horseback, but in
1890 Ralph Allen, from whom Fielding
took ais ideas for Squire Allworthy III
"Toni jones, sent in contract to farm
the cross country posts and to carry the
mails by what were subsequently known
rs ALIENS Postboys, who were sup
posed to travel on horseback at pace
averaging five miles an hour
Palmer, in explaining bis scheme for
reform 70 Pitt in 1888, thus criticised
the then existing state of things: 1.-THE
post, he said, "at present, instead Of
being the quickest, is almost the slow.
est conveyance in the country, and al
though, from the great improvements
in our roads, other carriers have pro-
portionately mended their speed. the
post Is as slow as ever. Palmer point
ed out to the authorities that the system
then in vogue was unsafe, for, - said
} he, "the mails are generally intrusted
to some idle hoy without q character,
mour ted Oh a wornout hack, and who,
SO far from being able TO defend himself
or escape from a robber, is tar more
likely to be in league with him. -
What was known as tho robbery OF
2 the Brighton mail in 1899 was not by
stopping Of a mail coach by a well
! mounted highwayman, bat the stopping
Of lad Of about 10 years old by q
couple Of loafing footpads named Rookt
and Howell who were afterward hanged
in due course, and the circumstance ol
the mother of Rookie going night after
night to the gibhet TO collect the bones
as they were blown down by the win(
suggo sted tho poem 'Mizpah."
Those boys without characters ant
q the vretched horses they bestrode werl
cheap labor, and the profits on the con
o tract enabled Allen to turn in abou
! S12, 600 q year and TO take mp his resi-
a dence at Prior Park. one Of the fines
S italian houses in England, and it
r said that it was the sight Of this granl
e place and the knowledge Of how Allen
II money had been made which first sug
gested to Palmer the attempt to brin
+ his scheme to the notice Of the posta
e authorities. John Palmer was lesse
n and manager of the Bath and Bristc
u theaters-it was at the old theater a
Bath that actors like Lee, Crawford
r Henderson, Siddons and Brunton mad
ie some Of their early appearances, while
II thanks to the influence of friends, Bat
. New theater was the only patent thea
r ter out Of London.
Palmer always appears to have bee
re- man of more or less horsy tastes lik
3 the late Mr.. Newcome of the Plymout
theater, and his business led him
M travel q good deal about the country
e With him time was money; so, abjurin
n the slow, rumbling stagecoach, he wer
as about beating up actors, actresses an
Of companies in postchaisess always,
is course, passing the coaches on the roa
along which he was travelling. Wit
J. the mail coach of the future in his ey
In he asked himself, remembering that
letter took three days to go from Bat
. to London, why letters should not
carried at the same pace at which
q was possible TO travel in a chaise? +
,s kept u record of times and distance
By and, having lnOuBnO Oul al uttdllh al
~ deeming his scheme ripe for adoption
y he sought the good offices of Mr.. Jot
r, Pratt, afterward Lord Camden,
1, who,a Palmer was introduced to Pit
* who warmly approved the idea
y, Lords Carteret and Tankerville. ii
eh joint postmasters general, besides u
cd being experts were bound secure
ny hand and foot by fetters Of red tape, al
% sc SO contentod themselves with learnii
Cd the opinions of the postoffice official
m who, it were almost needless to tel
"s were almost TO a man against Palme
EN- The farseeing Pitt was not long
e.. coming to the conclusion that mo
II than half of the objections to the pr
~ ~ posed mail coach had their outcome
les Jealousy so calling together Palme
es the postmasters general and sundry he
nSS tile officials, he decided that the syste
os, should have trial. - London Tel
,n, graph.