([B]) Return 1868, No. 215, the latest account rendered in this form shows that in 1867 the gross revenue had advanced to £4,548,000, and the net revenue to £2,127,000. [According to the form now in use, the gross revenue for 1878-9, was £6,274,000, and the net revenue £2,434,000.—Ed.] while the net revenue would sustain a loss of about £300,000. The preceding statement shows that the letters have increased, not five-fold, but nearly eight and a-half fold; that the gross revenue, instead of remaining the same, has increased by about £1,500,000; while the net revenue, instead of falling £300,000, has risen more than £100,000. (See Note[234]).
“While the revenue of the Post Office has thus more than recovered its former amount, the indirect benefit to the general revenue of the country arising from the greatly increased facilities afforded to commercial transactions, though incapable of exact estimate, must be very large. Perhaps it is not too much to assume that, all things considered, the vast benefit of cheap, rapid, and extended postal communication has been obtained, even as regards the past, without fiscal loss. For the future there must be a large and ever-increasing gain.
“The indirect benefit referred to above is partly manifested in the development of the money-order system; under which, since the year 1839, the annual amount transmitted has risen from £313,000 to £16,494,000; that is, fifty-two-fold (See Note[235]).
“An important collateral benefit of the new system is to be found in the cessation of that contraband conveyance which once prevailed so far that habitual breach of the postal law had become a thing of course.
“It may be added that the organization thus so greatly improved and extended for postal purposes, stands available for other objects; and passing over minor matters, has already been applied with great advantage to the new system of Savings Banks.
“Lastly, the improvements briefly referred to above, with all their commercial, educational, and social benefits, have now been adopted, in greater or less degree—and that through the mere force of example—by the whole civilized world.
“I cannot conclude this summary without gratefully acknowledging the cordial co-operation and zealous aid afforded me in the discharge of my arduous duties. I must especially refer to many among the superior officers of the department—men whose ability would do credit to any service, and whose zeal could not be greater if their object were private instead of public benefit.
“Rowland Hill.
“Hampstead, Feb. 23rd, 1864.”
RESIGNATION.