Future Expenses of the Post Office.

The proposed changes will operate partly to increase, and partly to decrease, the cost of the Post Office.

The increase will arise out of the additional number of letters passing through the post.

The decrease, chiefly from the postage being paid in advance, by means of stamps.

The balance will probably be a comparatively slight augmentation of expense, which, it is confidently expected, will be more than compensated by the increase of the customs, excise, &c., produced by the stimulus to commerce, consequent on the cheapness of postage.

There is, then, no just reason for believing that the proposed reduction in Postage will at all diminish the revenue of the country.

Below I have drawn out an estimate of the course which things may probably take after the proposed change, on the supposition of the gross revenue remaining the same as at present. I have perhaps undervalued some sources of increase, and overestimated others. I do not place much reliance on the details, but I have great confidence that the general result will hereafter be found below the truth.

Estimate of the Mode in which the required Increase of General Post Letters may be presumed to take place.

From the present Letter-writing Class—

Present number of chargeable General Post Letters, call this1
Contraband Letters, and evasions by writing in newspapers, &c. (Estimated by many at double the Posted Letters, but consider it equal only)1
Total of Letters now written2
Assume the rate of increase to be only 2 to 12
Estimated Return General Post Letters, from the present Letter-writing class4
Invoices—(Estimated by Mr. Cobden, and other mercantile men, as equal to the present Post Letters—say half only)½
Additional printed circulars, catalogues, small parcels, &c., say¾
Letters from numerous classes, who may now be said not to use the Post Office at all, say¾
Required increase of General Post Letters to sustain the gross revenue (Vide Third Report, p. 55.)6