The general result of our efforts during the Indian troubles was briefly stated in a letter to Lord Canning, which I give in the [Appendix (L)], as it may now perhaps be considered to derive some historic value from the crisis during which it was written, and the great statesman to whom it was addressed.
ACCELERATION OF NEWS.
In addition to the measures taken for accelerating the mails, efforts were made to increase, as much as possible, postal facilities to the public journals. I had previously made various arrangements for this general purpose, but the universal demand for early intelligence at the time of the Indian mutiny led us to seek further improvement.
The mode of proceeding, when application was made to me on the subject, was, so far as I remember, for the managers of the morning journals to send a special messenger to Marseilles to receive there such part of the mail as pertained to them. On arriving at Boulogne the messenger took this on board a steamer specially hired for the purpose, and immediately upon reaching Dover handed it over to writers sent down from London, who returned by a special train, making their abstracts and extracts by the way. The proceeding on this side Dover may, for aught I know, remain unaltered to the present time; but, with some trouble, I devised and established such an arrangement as dispensed with the special messenger to Marseilles, and that in such a manner as to avoid the delay which had led to the employment of the special steamer; so that, thenceforth, without trouble or expense to the journalists, their despatches were received at Dover at least as early as before, the saving to each paper being, as I was informed by the editor of one, no less than about £2,000 per annum.
About the same time also we revived an arrangement, which had fallen into disuse, whereby other foreign correspondence for the newspapers, from whatever quarter, might be obtained on application at the office before any delivery could be made to the general public. The only condition required was that the envelopes used should be of a peculiar tint, so that in sorting they might easily be selected.
REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE.
Revenue.
Following, as heretofore, that mode of accounting which for the purpose of comparison it was still necessary to retain, viz., the one in use at the time when penny postage was established, the results, in round numbers, may be briefly stated thus:—
The gross revenue increased from £2,700,000 in 1854 to £3,300,000 in 1859; but as the cost of management increased in the same period from £1,500,000 to somewhat more than £1,900,000, the increase in the net revenue was somewhat less than £200,000.[155]
Expenditure: Causes of Increase.