Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1913-09-17
SOME PARCEL POST HISTORY.
England Installed System 80 Years
Ago-Henry Fawcett Its Author.
(London Answers.)

/, 1883.
My father" was the late Henry
Fawcett, the famous blind postmas-
ter general. / was talked of, how
ever, for long time before his ge-
MUS and determination made me a
reality.
SO early as 1912 people were agi-
tating for parcel post, but the rail-
way companies constantly and sue
cessfully opposed.
Later, Lord Fortescue, Edwin
Chadwick and Prof. Jevons fought
hard in turn on my behalf, but it was
Mr.. Fawcett who finally overcame
all difficulties, and got an act passed
authorizing me.
Without boasting, ! was success
from the start. OF course, wasn't
perfect, but the first year | delivered
2O,OOO,000 parcels. A mere flea
bite, however, compared with the
16O,0OO,00O or so parcels now deal
with annually-that is, taking the
whole country.
AT first | lived in the basement of
the general post office, but in 1887 |
removed to my present quarters at
Mount Pleasant, where / deal with
about 100000 parcels a week.
Again, at first my operations were
confined to this country, but in 1885
foreign and colonial service was
introduced and has since grown
enormously.
Maximum Weight Increased.
The original maximum weight for
parcel was 7 pounds, and the
charge was Is. To-day | will carry
II pounds for you for sevenpence.
The reduction was arrived at in three
stages. In 1886 l undertook to carry
IL pounds for Is Cd In diamond
jubilee year 1 reduced the charge to
Is, and in 1906 I knocked off a
penny.
One great effect of my appearance
on the scene was the reintroduction
OF stage coaches. These employed
wherever possible to avoid the high
rates thetrailways insisted on charg-
ing me.
Among other places, my London
coaches ran to Brighton, Oxford,
Cambridge Ipswich, Ramsgate, Mar
gate, Chatham and Tunbrdge Wells,
while in the provinces 1 had a coach
service between Liverpool and Man.
CHESTER!
To-day have no horse coaches.
motor vans having replaced them.
The last of the horse coaches was
the Oxford one, which was stopped
about four years ago. | rather re-
greet the passing Of the stage coach.
Galloping through the night, with
frequent relays Of horses, was an ex-
h1larating experience. Then the stage
coach was more "intelligent" than
the motor van.
Mechanical Methods.
For example, on one occasion nv
Chatham coach ran into a dense fog,
md the driver took the wrong road.
he horses, however, knew better
han he did, stopped dead, and re-
Used to go on, with the result that
ae discovered his mistake "A motor
roach Is clever piece of mechanism,
but cannot he expected to know when
IT has taken the wrong turning, like
the girl In the play. In speed there
is not much in it between horse and
motor coach, for the latter Is limited
to IL miles an hour, though magma
tive persons have accused it of trav-
cling between 80 and 4O
But, of course, the motor beats
the horse for distance, and among
my long-distance motor services Is
, the London to Birmingham one.
Any exciting incidents? No; moth
ing sensational. Once four men got
on to the Ramsgate stage coach on
some pretext or other, but at Chat
ham a police officer happened to
spot" two Of them as well-known
thieves, and any robbery they may
have intended was frustrated.
On another occasion the horses of
the Windsor coach bolted near
Slough, and there was a smash~up,
but that's about all.
1t is not part Of their business, but
occasionally my vans are used as am
balances. Travelling through the
night, they may come upon motor
ist or other wayfarer who has met
with an accident, and they pick him
up and lake him along.
Few Parcels Lost.
Lost parcels? / am proud to say
that the percentage OF parcels that