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1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
144
From
the
data
which
Mr.
Hill
was
enabled
to
gather--for
accounts
of
any
sort
were
not
kept
as
accurately
at
the
Post-Office
then
as
now,
and
there
were
no
accounts
of
the
number
of
inland
letters--he
estimated
the
number
of
letters
passing
through
the
post.
He
then
took
the
expenses
of
management
and
analysed
the
gross
total
amount.
He
proved
pretty
clearly,
and
as
nearly
as
necessary,
that
the
primary
distribution,
as
he
termed
the
cost
of
receiving
and
delivering
the
letters,
and
also
the
cost
of
transit,
took
two-thirds
of
the
total
cost
of
the
management
of
the
Post-Office.
Of
this
sum,
the
amount
which
had
to
do
with
the
distance
letters
were
conveyed,
Mr.
Hill
calculated
at
144,000l.
out
of
the
total
postal
expenditure
of
700,000l.
Applying
to
this
smaller
sum
the
estimated
number
of
letters--deducting
franks
and
taking
into
account
the
greater
weight
of
newspapers--he
gave
the
apparent
average
cost
of
conveying
each
letter
as
less
than
one-tenth
of
a
penny.
The
conclusion
to
which
he
came
from
this
calculation
of
the
average
cost
of
transit
was
inevitable,
and
that
was,
that
if
the
charge
must
be
made
proportionate
(except,
forsooth,
it
could
be
shown
how
the
postage
of
one-tenth
or
one-thirty-sixth
of
a
penny
could
be
collected)
it
must
clearly
be
uniform,
and
for
the
sake
of
argument,
and
not
considering
the
charge
as
a
tax,
or
as
a
tax
whose
end
was
drawing
near,
any
packet
of
an
equal
weight
might
be
sent
throughout
the
length
and
breadth
of
the
country
at
precisely
the
same
rate.
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