11 FEBRUARY 1938, Page 22

MR. CREEVEY'S PENNY POST

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]' Stit,—Will your reviewer, E. R. Hodsoll, kindly explain his statement that " by 1832 Mr. Creevey 4 actually reconciling himself to a letter " which " came free, with its circular red mark, and only a little black canal on it with ' Penny Post ' " ? " Came," mind you, not " should come." The penny post was not instituted until 1840. In 1837, vide The Times extracts from its files of that year, there were still violent assertions that payment of letters in advance was an impossible suggestion, and on one date The Times describes the whole elaborate system under which the P.O. officials dealt with letters and assessed the payments to be made on their delivery.

[A London Penny Post was established in 1680.—ED. The Spectator.]