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435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
132
He
proposed
to
call
each
of
these
places
station-houses,
where
a
man
should
be
in
attendance.
A
narrow
cylindrical
tin
case,
to
contain
bags
or
letters,
might
be
suspended
on
two
wheels
rolling
upon
the
wire,
whilst
an
endless
wire
of
smaller
size
might
be
made
to
pass
over
two
drums,
one
at
each
end,
by
which
means
the
cylinder
could
be
moved
by
the
person
at
the
station.
Much
more
of
the
details
follow,
and
our
author
thus
concludes:--"The
difficulties
are
obvious;
but
if
these
were
overcome,
it
would
present
many
advantages
besides
velocity."
We
might
have
two
or
three
deliveries
of
letters[74]
every
day;
we
might
send
expresses
at
any
moment;
and
"it
is
not
impossible
that
a
stretched
wire
might
itself
be
made
available
for
a
species
of
telegraphic
communication
yet
more
rapid."
After
the
first
few
years
of
railways,
all
other
speculators
quietly
withdrew
into
the
shade.
In
the
Post-Office,
towards
1838
and
1839,
the
influence
of
railways
promised
soon
to
be
paramount,
and
it
was
now
that
Acts
were
passed
in
Parliament
"to
provide
for
the
conveyance
of
mails
by
railways."
In
1836,
Sir
Francis
Freeling,
the
Secretary
of
the
Post-Office,
died,
when
his
place
was
filled
by
Lieutenant-Colonel
Maberly.
The
latter
gentleman,
who
was
an
entire
stranger
to
the
department,
was
introduced
into
the
Post-Office
by
the
Treasury
for
the
purpose,
as
it
was
stated,
of
zealously
carrying
out
the
reforms
which
another
commission
of
inquiry
had
just
recommended.[75]
On
the
premature
fall
of
Sir
Robert
Peel's
first
Cabinet,
early
in
the
previous
year,
the
Earl
of
Lichfield
had
succeeded
to
the
office
of
Postmaster-General
under
Lord
Melbourne.
The
two
new
officers
set
to
work
in
earnest,
and
succeeded
in
inaugurating
many
important
reforms.
They
got
the
Money-order
Office
transferred,
as
we
have
already
seen,
from
private
hands
to
the
General
Establishment;
they
began
the
system
of
registering
valuable
letters;
and,
taking
advantage
of
one
of
Mr.
Hill's
suggestions,
they
started
a
number
of
day-mails
to
the
provinces.
Towards
the
close
of
1836,
the
stamp
duty
on
newspapers
was
reduced
from
about
threepence-farthing
net
to
one
penny,
a
reduction
which
led
to
an
enormous
increase
in
the
number
of
newspapers
passing
through
the
Post-Office.
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