Of the total area of Europe, Russia accounts for some 2,100,000 square miles.
[654] E.g. the transportation of Indian mails through France and Italy. For this service a special train in each direction between Calais and Brindisi is provided by the French and Italian Governments, and the payment made by the British Government in respect of the service is much in excess of the ordinary transit rates fixed by the Postal Union Convention.
[655] The following particulars relate to the British Packet Service in 1860:—
| Packets. | Contract Payments. | Other Payments. | Sea Postage. | Profit or Loss. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | £ | £ | |||
| Dover and Calais | } | 18,600 | 4,100 | 79,000 | + | 56,300 |
| Dover and Ostend | ||||||
| Peninsular | 5,000 | 800 | 4,000 | - | 1,800 | |
| North American | 189,500 | 400 | 112,000 | - | 77,900 | |
| West Indian | } | |||||
| Pacific | 293,500 | 8,900 | 103,600 | - | 198,800 | |
| Brazilian | ||||||
| West Coast of Africa | 30,000 | — | 4,500 | - | 25,500 | |
| Cape of Good Hope | 38,000 | — | 9,300 | - | 28,700 | |
| Australian | 90,200 | 4,300 | 30,300 | - | 64,200 | |
| East Indian | 163,000 | 17,300 | 111,000 | - | 69,300 | |
| On the whole service the figures were | 827,800 | 35,800 | 453,700 | - | 409,900 | |
—Annual Report of the Postmaster-General, 1860, Appx. H, pp. 34-7.
[656] In 1860, when the total number of foreign letters was very much less than at present, the cost of the British foreign packet service was some £860,000, and in 1913 the cost had fallen to some £700,000.—Annual Reports of the Postmaster-General, 1860, pp. 34-7; 1913-14, p. 51.
[657] Vide supra, Chapter VI.
[658] E.g., parcel mails are not forwarded by the train between Calais and Brindisi run specially for the Indian mails. Parcels are, it is true, forwarded to America by the Cunard packets which carry the letter mails, but this arrangement is due to special circumstances. The Cunard line, being heavily subsidized (with other than Post Office ends in view), is required to carry all mails tendered. Otherwise it might be found economical to send parcels by slower cargo boats.
[659] Wealth of Nations, ed. 1904, vol. ii., p. 303.
[660] "The business being one which both can and ought to be conducted on fixed rules, is one of the few businesses which it is not unsuitable to a Government to conduct."—J. S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy, London, 1871, vol. ii. bk. v. chap. v. § 2.