Semi=weekly graphic., 1897-07-17
OLD POSTAL USAGEs
CURIOUS PHASES OF THE MAIL SERV.
 ICE SIXTY YEARS AGO.

 Rates on Ordinary Letters In Englsua Were Almost Prohibitive-Aaoptios :, the Penny Pest and tne Queer Arsa. Taenrs Against It.
 When Queen Victoria ascended the throne, there were no felegraphs in this country and few 4ails ss.. :. Tie mails were forwarded by coach, and the post. age rates were to all but the vel! se, ,fa prohibitiye It cost from 4d. to Is. Sd to send "single' letter under an ounce ill weight from ofe part of ths kingdom to another There were some 40 charges. varying according to dis tance, the average rate being 0d., or half the days wage of laborer. 4 ''sinele" letter meant single piece of paper tadhcsiyg envelopes hs.1 not heen invented), and the addition of a second scrap Of paper made the letter "iioa ble'' one Iio postage was paid on de livery by the recipient and as no ctad i6 Was given the iHearsfdn Of q r0stlnan into a roor nei9bborhood was watched on all sides with feal rather than hope
 Coleridge the poet, saw a poor Woni- an declining t0 accept a letter on the score Of inability to nay. The good natured band tdouhtless 8lth some titf culty) foand tha required ninepence. despite the Waman's 1emoHstra1lces. When the pestAesa had gona away she showed Golaria4e that the letter wa# but blank sheet If paper Her brother had arranged to send her as intervals such sheet, addressed in a certain fashion. as evidence that all vas well with him, and she as regularly after inspecting tne address, refused to accept it. Some igaHe1ist CT one occasion SeIt out large HaiAhefs of lettafs. each on | sheet as large g I tablecloth. all Of which had to ba delivered as 'ainglei missives.
 This sy setiaallg stided written intercourse ah4uhs tie working class and pressed with sagelily upon the middle class, but the rich and highly placed entirely escaped postal taxation. The 1 p1ivilGga af fzaHkiug covered tho core spoudonee not only af ministers, peers and members ef parliament, but Of their relatives, friends and acQuaint- aaces. MHila in one year early in tke queeu's reign no less than I LOO, 900 l letters were 1Iankea, single London firm paid annually G11,G00 for postage and writer in The Quarterly referred 1 dipBautly 10 50 slight and lare an ln ciaent il a laboTct's life as the receipt of letter. Among tbe packets ranked was q grand piano. An armv of clerks was employed to fix the charges to be collected, and the postal revenue remained stationary between 1915 and 1885, although iu the same period the population increased from 19, 500, 900 to 25, 600 G00
 Moved by this state of things, parlia meut in 1859 adopted Rowland Hills ! proposal of uniform inland penny post age, which came into operation on Jan. 10, 1840 The writer possesses a copy ot Tho Quarterly Review of 1839 in which q contributor (belieyed to be Cr0kerl fe1caly denounces the scheme Will clerks, ; be says, .Write only to their fathers and girls to their mothers? Will Hdt letters of romance or love, intrigue ar mischief, increase in at least equal proportions? We doubt whether social and domestic correspondence will be more than doubled. A gigantic exem- plifeation of the old proYerb-Penny wise aDd pound foolish, etc.
 Maeaulay says that tbe penny post, when first established, was the object of violent iuyectiye, as manifest con triyaneoof the pope Go enslave tho souls of Enelishmen 1t was described as "sedition made easy " The postal au- thmites, who is l784 had opposed the institution of mail coaches were i'm placable enemies of penny postage The postmaster general of 1899, Lord Lieh- field, based his objections on the euIi- ous ground that the building at St. Mar tin's-le Grand wonld nor be large enough The secIg taGy. Colonel Maher- 1 y, constantly repeated. This plan we know will fail.
 Az we k1oW, il succeeded, and tho penny rate has been generally adopted in Europe as well IS in the United States The number cf letters rose frola 50, eco, eco in l685 to 299, 000, GOO in lS4f, and fol he year ending on March 3l, 1897l about 1000. 000, 00O The i postal surplus was in 1859 q 659, 5l0 and ia l886-1 e3, ,682. l33 The number of letters, hich was ill 1887 about S per head and in 1854 l5 per head, is new f per head. -Fortniqhtly Review.