RESULTS OF POSTAL REFORM

Before stating the results of Postal Reform it may be convenient that I should briefly enumerate the more important organic improvements effected. They are as follows:

1. A very large reduction in the Rates of Postage on all correspondence, whether Inland, Foreign, or Colonial. As instances in point, it may be stated that letters are now conveyed from any part of the United Kingdom to any other part—even from the Channel Islands to the Shetland Isles—at one-fourth of the charge previously levied on letters passing between post towns only a few miles apart;[240] and that the rate formerly charged for this slight distance—viz. 4d.—now suffices to carry a letter from any part of the United Kingdom to any part of France, Algeria included.

2. The adoption of charge by weight, which, by abolishing the charge for mere enclosures, in effect largely extended the reduction of rates.

3. Arrangements which have led to the almost universal resort to prepayment of correspondence, and that by means of stamps.

4. The simplification of the mechanism and accounts of the department generally, by the above and other means.

5. The establishment of the Book Post (including in its operation all printed and much M.S. matter), at very low rates; and its modified extension to our Colonies, and to many foreign countries.

6. Increased security in the transmission of valuable letters afforded, and temptation to the letter-carriers and others greatly diminished, by reducing the Registration Fee from 1s. to 4d., by making registration of letters containing coin compulsory, and by other means.

7. A reduction to about one-third in the cost—including postage—of Money Orders, combined with a great extension and improvement of the system.

8. More frequent and more rapid communication between the Metropolis and the larger provincial towns; as also between one provincial town and another.

9. A vast extension of the Rural Distribution—many thousands of places, and probably some millions of inhabitants having for the first time been included within the Postal System.

10. A great extension of free deliveries. Before the adoption of Penny Postage, many considerable towns, and portions of nearly all the larger towns, had either no delivery at all, or deliveries on condition of an extra charge.

11. Greatly increased facilities afforded for the transmission of Foreign and Colonial Correspondence; by improved treaties with foreign countries, by a better arrangement of the Packet service, by sorting on board and other means.

12. A more prompt dispatch of letters when posted, and a more prompt delivery on arrival.

13. The division of London and its suburbs into Ten Postal Districts, by which, and other measures, communication within the 12-miles circle has been greatly facilitated, and the most important delivery of the day has, generally speaking, been accelerated as much as two hours.

14. Concurrently with these improvements, the condition of the employees has been materially improved; their labours, especially on the Sunday, having been very generally reduced, their salaries increased, their chances of promotion augmented, and other important advantages afforded them.

RESULTS

My pamphlet on “Post Office Reform” was written in the year 1836. During the preceding twenty years—viz., from 1815 to 1835 inclusive—there was no increase whatever in the Post Office revenue, whether gross or net, and therefore, in all probability, none in the number of letters; and though there was a slight increase in the revenue, and doubtless in the number of letters, between 1835 and the establishment of Penny Postage early in 1840—an increase chiefly due, in my opinion, to the adoption of part of my plan, viz., the establishment of Day Mails to and from London—yet, during the whole period of twenty-four years immediately preceding the adoption of Penny Postage, the revenue, whether gross or net, and the number of letters, were, in effect, stationary.

Contrast with this the rate of increase under the new system which has been in operation during a period of about equal length. In the first year of Penny Postage the letters more than doubled, and though since then the increase has, of course, been less rapid, yet it has been so steady that, notwithstanding the vicissitudes of trade, every year, without exception, has shown a considerable advance on the preceding year, and the first year's number is now nearly quadrupled. As regards revenue, there was, of course, at first a large falling off—about a million in gross and still more in net revenue. Since then, however, the revenue, whether gross or net, has rapidly advanced, till now it even exceeds its former amount, the rate of increase, both of letters and revenue, still remaining undiminished.

In short, a comparison of the year 1863 with 1838 (the last complete year under the old system) shows that the number of chargeable letters has risen from 76,000,000 to 642,000,000; and that the revenue, at first so much impaired, has not only recovered its original amount, but risen, the gross from £2,346,000 to about £3,870,000, and the net from £1,660,000 to about £1,790,000.[241]

The expectations I held out before the change were, that eventually, under the operation of my plans, the number of letters would increase fivefold, the gross revenue would be the same as before, while the net revenue would sustain a loss of about £300,000. The preceding statement shows that the letters have increased, not fivefold, 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.

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 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.

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 organisation 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 civilised 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,
23rd February 1864.