Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, fifth series, no. 143, vol. III, September 25, 1886

No. 143.—Vol. III.
Price 1½ d.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1886.
Government Blue-books, to an ordinary reader, are tedious and uninteresting enough; but even to the most ordinary of readers, the annual Report of the Postmaster-general is at once curious and interesting. Baron von Liebig once affirmed that the commercial prosperity of a country was to be gauged by the sale of chemicals. This may or may not be true; but we think the growth of the postal system in all its multifarious branches—the amount of the deposits in the savings-banks; the purchase of annuities and life policies; the amount of money transmitted by means of postal orders; the correspondence, growing by leaps and bounds, with all parts of the globe; the countless telegrams—those flashing messengers of joy and despair, good and ill—and last, but by no means least, the thousands of millions of letters annually delivered in the United Kingdom alone—all these are a sure index, not only of the commercial growth and prosperity of the nation, but also of the spread of education. A brief résumé of the Postmaster-general’s Report for the year ending March 31, 1886, may prove interesting to our readers.
The number of letters delivered in the United Kingdom alone reaches the astounding total of 1,403,547,900, this being an increase of 3.2 per cent., and giving an average to each person of 38.6. If we add to this the post-cards, book-packets, circulars, newspapers, and parcels transmitted by the postal authorities, we have a grand total of 2,091,183,822, an increase of 4.2 per cent.; and an average to each person of 57.5. Of this total, 84 per cent. were delivered in England and Wales (27.4 per cent. being delivered in the London postal district alone), 9.6 per cent. in Scotland, and 6.4 per cent. in Ireland. It will be at once seen that the necessary staff for the successful carrying out of such a colossal undertaking must be on a like scale; and this is the case, the total number of officers on the permanent staff being about 51,500, showing an increase during the past year of 3310. Of this small army 3456 are women. In addition to these there are, it is estimated, about 45,000 persons of private occupations, who are employed to assist in carrying on the operations of the department during a portion of the day. An increase of business brings a decrease in charge, this again inducing a fresh increase; thus, it has become possible to reduce the rate of postage on letters exceeding twelve ounces in weight, from one penny per ounce to a halfpenny per two ounces; a letter thus weighing fifteen ounces formerly cost 1s. 3d., whereas it can now be sent for 5d. The natural result is a large increase in the number of such letters.