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    Untitled Article

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    Untitled Article

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    THE POST-OFFICE.

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    Untitled Article

    envy , and to render poverty less intolerable , and wretchedness more endurable ? » , • 1 - i ¦ ¦'¦ ' ¦ O suet si honanorint ! " What emperors of happiness . might be these country gentle men , if they but knew the power of kindness— - what seas of smiling foces might ring them in with blessings svhat deep roots of perpetuity and unshaken conservatism they might strike in the soil their wealth burdens ; , did they but know the glorious omnipotence that doing good confers ! What bands of devoted retainersAyould again follow their sons to battle !—what blessings of dying men would hallow their houses , as only good men's prayers * can do !¦ _ __ ' - " __ . . ¦ . , n state of

    The tory advocate , who always thinks the existing things , wliatever it may be , perfection , calls this mere rhetoric and declamation , and asks what practical good country landlords can do that they do not do ? Do they not himt three times a week ?— keep their kennel well fed , their labourers' cottages with the roofs snug on—do they not subscribe to the village school ? Do they not give money to a coal club and a blanket club—do they not touch their hats when a labourer touches his ? Are they not affablei ? Are they nof six months a year at home at Beech wood , and do they not leave behind a responsible , respectable agent P And for all lesser wants is there not the clergyman always on the spot , to bind np every wound and pour balsam on every saddened heart ? The last sentence is when the tory advocate gets fervid , and for a time abandons the shallow pedantry of his Latin Grammar quotations and . his sciolist arguments , to appeal to the feelings on behalf

    of an injured class of worthy men . No one knows better than themselves what they might do . They might make ^ it known as their repeatedly expressed wish that every tenant ' s son should attend school— ' they might start village libraries and reading-rooms —they-might leave the ^ beershop unteiianted , by encouraging openair amusements and athletic exercises , by supplying requisites , and . giving ground to parishes for the purpose . They might visit and speak kindly words to their poor ^ -they might , and ought , to trust to no stewards , but to become personally acquainted with the wants and sufferings of the poor—to give occasional feasts , where , for that great object ; of blending classes , poor and rich might for once meet as equals—to secure work to all honest . striving men , and , in times of need , to invent work for them by making roads through the property , beds for artificial water , and other improvements—to protect bv law the rights of the parish , and to be tacitly the king-,

    advocate , benefactor , and champion . When even a clergyman ' s warning and counsel was unheeded , ft landlord ' s would be ail-preyailing . A few words now and then , and drunkards would take the pledge ; riotous bullies would be tamed ; senseless law-suits would be quashed , and old feuds reconciled . A kind , wise landlofd might be the arbitrator and referee for half the county . It is he who should induce the restless and incurable villagers to emigrate , and should build and enclose to fill in ore thickly places where labourers were insufficient . Were this accomplished , by which we imply that rich men should

    be no longer selfish or mean * we might , indeed , again hope to see the Auburn of the poets ; again the brooks would flow with golden sherry and water , and the trout look like . gold and silver fish in that precious and transformed liquid . Blue and pink small-clothes we could scarcely expect to see again , except in stage dreams , but streams of white smocks flowing into village churches , in the Ab-8 QT . ON manner— -and legs . like pipes , thin and brittle , in cold white stockings , would pass away for ever with workhouse bastiles , cruel hoards of guardians , and old couples committing suicide to prevent being separated ; then would Sir Roger de Coviski / ey , bland a . nd smiling , ro-nppear in great force On our country roads on session days and other public ceremonials , and happiness and contentment , like two happy children hiand in hand , would be seen walking together , harnessed together with daisies , and over the grave of the lust bad landlord would dawn the new and golden age that is to irradiate the world for the great Coming Man .

    Untitled Article

    TITO publio ' -feols the conveniences of this establishment ; there are no taxes it pays more readily than those on the carriage of letters . For overy farthing it expends a good service is performed . Afc the stfme time it is not satisfied , because it believes that it might have still bettor service and still greater conveniences at even lower charges . The publio , however , will bo pleased to learn from the sixth report of the Postmaster General , that in 1859 the number of post-offices was increased by 177 , the total now being ] 1 , 412 ; 825 head post-offices , and 10 , 587 sub-offices . With 1 , 958 road letterboxes put up in the year , the number of public receptacles for letters is now 13 , 870 ; against 4 , 518 before the establishment of the penny postage . In London , every resident , with few exceptions , is within a furlong of' a letter-box , and a quarter of a mile of a money-order office . Thore are ten deliveries of letters every day , and one more is to be added in the course of the year . The mails liave been accelerated to the west of Cornwall , to the north of England « md Scotland j and greater regularity has boon assured , ¦ with greater tieapivtchi Travelling 1 offices , in - whjoh letters are sorted enroicte , hare-boon increased , and lottors can in consequence lw posted latov and are delivered earlier . Ah the result-of all these improvements , mails nro now convoyed on oaoU weoloday 86 , 60 < Ji x \\\\< sb by mil , at an average octet of 9 £ d . Vei '< milo ;< 32 , 93 ( V miles by inuil ooaolioa , omnibuses , and carts ; nt 2 *< UpQr uiilo ; ( 5 8 > 9 G'I < miloa on foot nt l&d . per mile , nnd 2 , 817 « ,: inc l \* r na / ihafa nnA hnftf . fi hntweon rllfP « rftnf , nnrts of the Uliltccl

    Ttttti Paqt Ttm Lujli Lutol-Uxaa^

    ICingdom , at 9 $ d . per mile ; making a total of miles that mails £ conveyed by these several means every week-day—140 , 321 , abo 7 , 500 more in 1859 than in 1858 . These mails carried 54 . 5 , 000 , 0 letters ; to each person in England , twenty-two ; in Seotlar seven ; and in Ireland , six ; on the average of the whole , eighte to each person ^ Last year , the increase of letters Carried abo 1858 was 22 , 000 , 000— -4 r £ per cent . ; and compared to 18 . 39 , t year before the penny post , the increase is now more than seve fold . The number of letters now posted in London annual equals the whole number of letters posted in England and Wai including London , twenty years ago . The number of registered letters was 1 , 400 , 000 , an increase 6 per cent . In 785 cases the letters did riot reach , but all exec fifteen were recovered , of which eight were lost after leaving t custody of the liritish Post-office . The number of newspapo delivered was 70 , 500 , 000 . The number of money orders w 6 > 969 , 108 , for an amount of £ 13 , 250 , 930 , being an increase of per cent , on 1858 , and yielding a profit of £ 29 , 115 . All this wo was done , and colonial and foreign letters despatched , at a cost £ 2 , 312 , 114 , the yield being £ 3 , 448 , 074 , giving a net revenue profit to the state of £ 1 , 135 , 960 . The Post-office , then , is a ve great concern , the greatest of its kind in the world ; and we ha thought it right thus to state in outline what it does . afc what cc and at what gain , before adverting to the unsound principle winch it is established . The growth of the Post-office and the many services it perfori tell us 1 ; hat wants are for ever increasing . From the beginnii ¦ ¦ to the end it is the product of modern , civilization , and all that does ministers to wants utterly unknown in the early stagies man ' s social condition . They are the natural results of social li and come into existence and extend as knowledge and populati increase . The means of gratifying them by the Post-office a utterly trifling compared to the means of gratifying- similar ai connected wants by navigation , the control of which is not assum by Government .: ; Wemay ' infer , therefore , that as the wants win the Post-office subserves would certainly exist without the inte ference of Government , the means of gratifyirig .-them would ah grow up , tiio . usrh : it did not interfere to supply them . In fact , the Post-office is only a little part of commerce on whu the Government seized to make money by monopolizing it . Pastas has been extended and improved since 1839 , general commerce h improved and extended still faster . But prior to 1839 , genet commerce , in spite of corn laws and innumerable similar restrietioii was both improved and " extended , while the Post-office was f many years almost stationary . It was continually complained of fi its inefficiency , and commerce was actually compelled extensively smuoxrle letters and break through the monopoly . The great ii proveinents since 1839 , on which the Post-office and the pnbl now placidly rest , are consequently far less proofs of its presei efficiency , than of the impediments which its negligence and bi regulations previously placed in the way of supplying the natur wants which it now , to a considerable extent , subserves . Subsequently to what we may call the arbitrary change fro high and various charges to the uniform penny postage , as contri distinguished from the gradual and . incessant reduction in the co of most other services , the increase of duties thrown on the Pos office was very great . They have continued ever since to increas < they have multiplied so fast that . all'the exertions of the officia have been insufficient to overtake them . At present , its grei building is too small for its multifarious work ; it does not provic efficiently and effectually for the transmission of newppnpers ar books and small parcels , and the public is forced to consider tl question whether the carriage of letters and of books , the transrm sion of small sums of money , < fcc , which constitute the duties the Post-office , are an exception to the general rule , that tl Government never interferes with commerce or any part ol con merce "but to disturb or derange it . Could the servicos now pa formed by the PoBt-office not bo performed better , cheaper , wit greater celerity and safety by private enterprise , than by Goven mpnt regulations and a Government monopoly P We are struck by the fact that the publio makes numerous con plaints of the post-office , and , however courteous may bo the elm officials , the public can get no redress . Why P Because it is a C *< vernment establishment . It can neither be reformed nor its clolir quencios punished . If it were a private establishment , the compet tion of other establishments would bring it under the complol control of the public , nnd it could be amended without a rovolutioi If it committed any wrongs , withheld or lost property , or did nc fulfil its tacit oontrnct wjth the public to deliver everything intrusto to its charg-o safely , it could bo prosecuted and punished . But tli public cannot prosecute and pimwh / tho Governiuont , nor forco on i improvements . It wiusfc submit , as ifc submitted for many year till 1899 , to many wrongs without redress . It cannot be supposoi that private enterprise could not convoy letters and books , us i comvoys passengers and goodfl , from one end of the country , or oy oi of the earth , to the othei * . Clearly , to carry letters is within tn competence of private enterprise , and , had it not boon monopolisot by Government , letters would have been delivered as safely ana n cheaply n *» tnarkotfl are supplied with cotton and corn . This Koport tolls us that nn additional expense of more turn d@ll , 000 per annum lias been inourred to develop provincial and rum posts , with-n hone only that in-time the oxponBO wijl be vonnid . Oi an expenditure of £ 2 , 8-12 , 114 , th < 3 Post-office malros £ 1 , 1 : 15 , 000 , oi very nearly 00 per cent . This is at least five times an grout as tin 6 rdlhary profit of capital , to say nothing- of the economy of »» nnflR 0 ratfnt , whioh distinBuiflheB private frotn publiq onteypriao . It m

    Untitled Article

    S 96 The Leader mid Saturday Analyst . [ April 28 , 186

    The Post-Office.

    THE POST-OFPICE .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 28, 1860, page 396, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2345/page/8/