“January 19th, 1852.—The number of letters which passed through the London Office last week is the greatest on record, being 2,597,000 general post, and 850,000 district post letters; in all, 3,447,000, or considerably more than twice the number under the old system for the whole kingdom. It is remarkable that the London general post letters, which increased to the extent of about 200,000 a week soon after the opening of the Exhibition [the Great Exhibition of 1851] continue now that it is closed to be as numerous as ever.
“January 20th, 1853.—The usual annual account of letters gives 379½ millions for the year 1852, or an increase of 19½ millions on the previous year. The number is exactly five times as great as before reduction. . . . The letters have for the last three or four months increased very rapidly (one of the many signs of prosperity); the last return (for the week ending 21st December) showed an increase of more than 400,000 in the letters passing weekly through London; and on Monday morning last Bokenham tells me that the number of letters which passed through his office was greater than in any previous Monday by 40,000.
“January 9th, 1855.—The number of letters delivered in the United Kingdom last year was 443½ millions, showing an increase on 1853 of 32½ millions; the largest increase since 1840, the first year of the reduced rates. This great increase is, I think, mainly owing to the extension of rural distribution. In the course of the year, I believe, we have opened more than five hundred offices.”
This large increase of correspondence by the admission of the rural districts to the postal system reminded me of a remark which I had heard from my father many years before, viz., that the result of the first census, while it disappointed expectation as to the population of the towns, exceeded it as to that of the whole country; the rural districts proving to be better inhabited than had been supposed.
Occasional Pressure.
The following entry gives a specimen of the remarkable contingencies to which the Post Office was then liable, and for which therefore it had always to stand prepared. By improved arrangements the difficulty has in great measure been obviated.
“July 4th, 1853.—On Saturday the despatch of the night mails was three-quarters of an hour late; this was caused by the arrival in the course of the day of heavy mails from the following places, viz., the United States, the West Indies, the East Indies, Australia viâ Singapore, and Australia viâ the Cape. The total number of letters, including inland, which reached the General Post Office that day, was 458,000, of which 212,000 (chiefly Foreign and Colonial) were unpaid. It was with the greatest difficulty that the work was got through at all.”
Increased Honesty.
I need not say that I made the following record with great satisfaction:—
“July 8th, 1853.—A recent return to Parliament of the number and cost of prosecutions [for Post Office offences] from 1848 to 1852 inclusive shows an enormous decrease, nearly, I think, in the ratio of three to one; this very satisfactory result is, I believe, mainly owing to the improved arrangements in the Money Order Office.”