THE POST OFFICE.* Ma. BENNETT does not give, and is
doubtless right in not giving, much space to the history, properly so called, of the Post Office. The contents of his volume are better described by his sub-title, an "Account of the Activities of a Great Government Department." The present is so large, so full of absorbing interest, that we do not care to spend much time in looking back at the past. Of course, as a contrast, a glimpse at this past is impressive enough. Here is an example. In the days before penny post almost all letters were paid for on delivery. This process involved two difficulties. The post- man was delayed in collecting the money, and he was tempted to appropriate some of it before handing it over. These were partly met by the practice of allowing business houses of good repute to pay the main office. The writer of this notice remembers that his father, a London solicitor, had a monthly account for letter postage. How unthink- able that is now ! This same penny postage was not established without difficulty. The champions of the old system predicted a heavy loss, and for a while they seemed to be right. The first year showed a deficit of more than a million pounds. It was this that seemed to justify the Government of the day in dismissing the inventor of the system. "Britannia presented Rowland Hill with the sack," as John Leech put it in his famous cartoon. But the loss was soon recovered. The net revenue now paid into the treasury is about five times the maximum reached under the old system ; and yet there has been another considerable remission of charge, in that four ounces now go for what was once de- manded for half an ounce. The writer of this notice calculates that this was for him nearly equivalent to a penny in the income tax. Next to the penny letter change should come the postal order. The money order is not quite a hundred and twenty years old (October 1st, 1791). For fifty odd years, however, it was carried on by private enterprise, though under Government sanction. Bat the money order is a somewhat complicated transaction, and the postal order, which is prac- tically a kind of paper money, supplied a great want. Last year more than a hundred and twenty-five millions were issued, and the commission received was £483,421. To this amount should be added no inconsiderable sum for orders destroyed or lost and for fines on orders presented after time. The writer, if he may obtrude himself once more, paid on one occasion a fine of thirty shillings on two £1 orders which had been mislaid. The Savings Bank Department, though not less useful to the public, is not so successful as a producer of revenue. At one time it was a loss, and the question of reducing the interest was seriously considered. At present, with Consols paying £3 4s. per cent., the accounts must be nearly balanced. No inconsiderable sum, it must be remembered, pays no interest, the total, i.e., of all the accounts under £1 and the money paid in or withdrawn during the course of a month. The telegraphs are a considerable loss; it is hardly too much to say that the Government was swindled in some of its purchases. It is to be hoped that the same
t The Story of Bayard. By Christopher Hare. London : J. M. Dent and Co. • The Post Office and its Story, By Edward Bennett. London: Seeley, Service
story of financial failure may not have to be told of the telephones.
The serious matter of the book is frequently relieved by what we may call comic interludes. There are the stories of queer addresses found on letters and parcels. One of these was "Mr. Richard Funerals at Shortest Notice, Mile End "; another, "Messrs. Hair Cut by Machinery." Some receivers hold the Post Office responsible for their correspondents' mistakes. So an aggrieved gentleman writes : " Enclosed find wrongly addressed envelope which was sent after I had given my correct address to you." A spinster lady, who lived at the "Haven," was much annoyed that her residence was called the "Harem." This was on an official letter, and it certainly looks as if some humorous official had bad to do with it, possibly the same who, on a child's letter addressed to "Santa Claus, Chimney Corner, Heaven," wrote, " Try Edenbridge." The sense of humour seems to be want- ing in some of the complainants. So a lady received a letter purporting to contain a pair of undressed kids, size 61, colour black finish, but actually filled with a Montreal newspaper. She pointed out that the gloves had evidently been abstracted at Montreal ; the Office had the pleasure of suggesting that if she looked into the newspaper she would find two black figures of undressed children. The money business gives rise, as might be expected, to not a few strange applications. A gentleman, who has lost a P.O. order and is asked to give par- ticulars, is very indignant. " Why this humbug ? " he writes. "I want my money." Another had bought a performing dog on the strength of an advertisement, found that it was a fraud, and wanted the Office to refund. Depositors in the savings banks are sometimes puzzled by the word "stock." A farmer wanted the Office to buy cattle for him, and a lady, asked whether she would not invest the surplus of her account, replied that her garden was already full. This is a most entertaining as well as instructive volume.
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