On a careful comparison of the two plans, I cannot but think that mine would have proved not only better for the Post Office, but also more acceptable to the publishers and news venders, because, while the cost of transmission would have been practically the same, they could have been saved the great trouble of folding, covering, and addressing each separate copy; processes necessarily performed at a time when every minute is of great value. I may add that, as my plan is, in its essential features, independent of rates of postage, it may still be adopted without interfering with recent changes; nay, by relieving the Post Office of railway conveyance and sorting, the cost of both of which is seriously augmented by increased weight and bulk, it would go far towards justifying the late innovation.
MISCELLANEOUS.
One of the most striking and impressive events of this period is thus mentioned in the Report for 1856:—
“In recording the chief events of last year, I must not omit the melancholy loss, by shipwreck, of the ‘Violet’ mail-packet, between Ostend and Dover; a catastrophe attributed at the time, in one of our public journals, to an undue strictness by the department in requiring mail-packets to put to sea at the appointed time, even in a violent storm.
“I need scarcely say that no such rule exists, and that no such orders had been given. It would certainly be the duty of the captain of a mail-packet not to allow slight obstacles to cause delay; but on this point we may always fully rely on the courage and sense of duty of a British commander.
“Mr. Mortleman, the officer in immediate charge of the mail-bags, acted on the occasion with a presence of mind and forethought which reflect honour on his memory. On seeing that the vessel could not be saved, he must have removed the cases containing the mail-bags from the hold, and have so placed them, that when the ship went down they might float; a proceeding which ultimately led to the recovery of all the bags, except one containing despatches, of which, from their nature, it was possible to obtain copies. I may add, that a similar spirit of determination to perform their duty to the last has, on several previous occasions of exposure to imminent danger, distinguished the conduct of our officers.”[211]
The following passage from the same page records, not for the first time, foreign aid kindly given to one of our mail-steamers in distress:—
“An instance, calling for grateful acknowledgment on my part [it is the Duke of Argyll who speaks], occurred last year, of prompt and gratuitous assistance given by two foreign Governments in the conveyance of a large mail from India, which was on board a ship belonging to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company bound for Southampton, when, owing to an accident to the machinery, the vessel became unable to proceed. The casualty happened near Tunis; and the Bey gave immediate orders for a steam-vessel in his own service to be got ready to convey both the mail and passengers, without cost, to Marseilles, which was accordingly done; and from Marseilles the mail was, by the French Government, forwarded gratuitously to Calais; whereas, under ordinary circumstances, a mail of the same weight would for this part of the journey alone have entailed a charge of more than £800.”
It has been mentioned that our number of letters in 1857 was more than 500,000,000; the following passage shows very strikingly that the correspondence of a country is not always according to its population:—
“According to an official return in a recent number of the ‘Journal de Saint Petersbourg,’ giving various Russian postal statistics for the year 1855, the whole number of letters posted in Russia was about 16,400,000, or almost exactly the same as the number posted in the single city of Manchester and its suburbs.”[212]