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1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
131
In
1830,
on
the
opening
of
the
Liverpool
and
Manchester
Railway,
the
mails
of
the
district
were
consigned
to
the
new
company
for
transmission.
The
railway
system
developed
but
slowly,
exerting
little
influence
on
Post-Office
arrangements
for
the
first
few
years.
After
public
attention
had
been
attracted
to
railways,
many
proposals
were
thrown
out
for
the
more
quick
transmission
of
mails,
to
the
supercession
of
the
mail-coach.
One
writer
suggested
the
employment
of
balloons.
Professor
Babbage
threw
out
suggestions,
in
his
Economy
of
Machinery
and
Manufactures,
1832,
pp.
218-221,
deserving
more
attention,
because
in
them
we
see
shadowed
forth
two
at
least
of
the
greatest
enterprises
of
our
time.
After
proceeding
to
show,
in
a
manner
which
must
have
been
interesting
to
the
post-reformers
of
1839-40,
that
if
the
cost
of
letter-carrying
could
be
reduced,
the
result
might
be
(if
the
Post-Office
people
chose)
a
cheaper
rate
of
postage
and
a
corresponding
increase
in
the
number
of
letters,
he
proceeded
to
expound
a
scheme
which,
though
vague,
was
described
in
words
extremely
interesting,
seeing
that
he
wrote
long
anterior
to
the
time
of
the
electric
telegraph.
Imagine,
says
he,
a
series
of
high
pillars
erected
at
frequent
intervals,
as
nearly
as
possible
in
a
straight
line
between
two
post-towns.
An
iron
or
steel
wire
of
some
thickness
must
be
stretched
over
proper
supports,
fixed
on
these
pillars,
and
terminating
at
the
end,
say
of
four
or
five
miles,
in
a
very
strong
support,
by
which
the
whole
may
be
stretched.
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