Semi=weekly graphic., 1897-08-21
OLD POSTAL USAGES.
CURIOUS PHASES OF THE MAIL 8ERV-
ICE SIXTY YEARS AGO.

Rates on Ordinary Letters In England
Were Almost Prohibitlve Adoption OF
the Penny Post and the Queer Arsu-
ments Against 1t.
When Queen Victoria assembled thu
throne, there were no telegraphs in this
country and few railways. The mails
were forwarded by coach, and the post
age rates were to all but the well to do
prohibitiye. 1t cost from 4d. to Is. Sd.
to send a "singlee letter under an
ounce in weight from one part Of the
kingdom to another. There were some
40 charges, varying according to dis
lance, the average rate being 3D., OF
half the days wage Of a laborer A
"sinele" letter meant single piece OF
paper adhesive envelopes had not been
invented), and the addition Of a second
scrap of paper made the letter a dou-
BILE" one. The hostage was paid on de
livery by the recipient, and as no cred
it was given the incurslon of postman
into a poor neighborhood was watched
ON all sides with fear rather than hope.
Coleridge, the poet, saw a poor wom-
an declining to accept a letter on the
score of inability to pay. The good
natured bard doubtless with some diff
eulty) found the required ninepence,
despite the woman's remonstranGes.
When the postman had gone away, she
showed Coleridge that the letter was
but blank sheet of paper. Her brother
had arranged to send her at intervals
such a sheet, addressed in certain
fashion, as evidence that all was well
with him, and she as regularly, after
inspecting the address, refused to accept
it. Some humorist ON one occasion sent
out large numbers of letters, each on
sheet as large as tableoloth, all Of
which had to be delivered as single
missiYes.
This system practically stifed written
intercourse among the working class and
pressed with severity upon the middle
class, but the rich and highly placed
entirely escaped postal taxation. The
privilege OF frauking covered the CORE
spondence not only of ministers, peers
and members of parliament, but Of
their relatives, friends and acquaint-
anees. While in Que year early in the
gueen's reign no less than z 400, 600
letters were franked, single London
firm paid annually eli, 600 for postage
and a writer i'll The Quarterly referred
flippantly to so slight and rare an in
cident IN a laborer's life as the receipt
Of a letter =" Among the packets
frankod was a grand piano An army
of clerks was employed TO fix the charges
to be collected and the postal revenue
remained stationary between 1915 and
1885, although in the same period the
population increased from 10, 800 600 tc
%, 600, coo.
Moved by this state Of things, parlia-
ment in 1889 adopted Rowland Hills
proposal of uniform inland penny post
| age, which came into operation on Jan
10, 1910. The writer possesses a copy Of
The Quarterly Review of 1899, in which
contributor believed to be Croker
fereely denoUnces the scheme. Will
clerks, he says, write only to THEN
fathers and girls to their mothers? viii
not letters eff romance or love- intrigue
or mischief, increase i'll at least equal
proportions? We doubt whether social
and domestic correspondence will be
more than doubled A gigantic exem.
plifcation Of the old proverb-Penaz
wise ami pound foolish, " etc,
Macaulay says that the penny post
when first established was the object
of violent inyectiYe, as a manifest con.
triyance Of the pope to enslave the souls
Of Englishmen 1t was described as
"sedition made easy. The postal au-
thorities, who is 1874 had opposed the
institution of mail coaches, were i'm.
placable enemies of penny postage. The
postmaster general of 1899, Lord Lich.
field based his objections On the curl
| GUS ground that the building Mt St. Mar.
| tin sic Grand would not be large
enough. The secretary, Colonel Maber.
", constantly repeated, 'This plun We
know Will fail F"
AS we know, it succeeded, and the
penny rate has been generally adopted
IN Europe as well as III the United
States The number of letters rose from
$4,000, coo in 1887 to 299, 100000 in
1871, and for the year ending on March
81, 1897, about 1890, GOO, eco The
postal surplus was in 1889 81, 500, DIG
and in 1867 e8, 632, 1873. The number
Of letters, which was in 1897 about
per head and in 1854 ) per head, is
now II per head. -Fortnighdy Review