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1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
122
CHAPTER
VI.
THE
TRANSITION
PERIOD
AT
THE
POST-OFFICE.
It
must
not
be
supposed
that
the
improvements
in
mail-conveyance
were
the
only
beneficial
changes
introduced
into
the
Post-Office
during
the
fifty
years
which
we
have
designated
as
the
mail-coach
era.
It
is
true
that,
compared
with
the
progress
of
the
country
in
many
other
respects,
the
period
might
be
termed
uneventful.
Still,
there
are
incidental
changes
to
chronicle
of
some
importance
in
themselves,
and
likewise
important
in
their
bearing
on
the
present
position
of
the
Post-Office.
If
we
retrace
our
steps
to
the
year
1792,
we
shall
find,
for
instance,
that
in
that
year
an
entirely
new
branch
of
business
was
commenced
at
the
General
Post-Office.
We
refer
to
the
origin
of
the
Money-Order
establishment.
The
beginnings
of
this
system,
which,
as
the
reader
must
be
aware,
has
of
late
years
assumed
gigantic
proportions,
were
simple
and
unassuming
in
the
extreme.
The
Government
of
the
day
had
expressed
a
desire
for
the
establishment
of
a
medium
by
which
soldiers
and
sailors
might
transmit
to
their
homes
such
small
sums
as
they
could
manage
to
save
for
that
purpose.
Three
officers
of
the
Post-Office
jointly
submitted
a
scheme
to
make
a
part
of
the
Post-Office
machinery
available
in
this
direction,
and
a
monopoly
was
readily
conceded
to
them.
The
undertaking
was
further
favoured
with
the
sanction
of
the
Postmasters-General.
The
designation
of
the
firm
was
to
be
"Stow
&
Co.,"
each
of
the
three
partners
agreeing
to
find
a
thousand
pounds
capital.
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