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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
144
For
example,
at
certain
periods
letters
from
Edinburgh
for
places
in
Norfolk
and
Suffolk
go
on
to
London,
to
return
north
to
those
counties
by
the
mails
out
of
London;
similarly,
letters
for
places
north
of
Manchester
are
at
certain
hours
sent
on
to
that
city,
to
be
returned
part
of
the
way
by
next
opportunity.
It
will
no
doubt
seem
a
puzzle
that
letters
for
Ireland
should,
at
a
certain
time
of
day,
be
forwarded
from
Edinburgh
to
Leeds
in
Yorkshire!
Yet
this
is
so,
and
with
good
results,--the
fact
being
that,
after
the
more
direct
despatches
for
the
day,
Irish
letters
are
sent
by
the
last
evening
train
to
Leeds,
whence
early
next
morning
they
are
sent
across
the
country,
reaching
a
travelling
post-office
proceeding
from
London
to
Holyhead,
and
then
catching
the
day-mail
packet
for
Ireland.
Thus
they
arrive
in
the
sister
isle
by
the
time
they
would
otherwise
be
only
leaving
Scotland.
In
the
travelling
post-offices
the
plan
of
carrying
letters
away
from
their
destinations
in
order
that
time
may
be
gained
for
their
sortation,
and
afterwards
sending
them
back
by
a
Post-office
carriage
proceeding
in
the
reverse
direction,
is
largely
practised,
and
with
the
greatest
advantage.
Again,
letters
from
Newcastle-on-Tyne
for
Glasgow,
forwarded
by
the
night-mail,
take
what
might
be
thought
to
be
a
very
wide
circuit--namely,
by
way
of
Normanton
in
Yorkshire,
and
Manchester
and
Wigan
in
Lancashire;
yet
that
circulation
is
found
to
be
best
at
the
hour
at
which
the
night-mail
despatch
is
made.
In
one
more
case
that
may
be
cited,
letters
from
Berwick-on-Tweed
for
Carlisle
are,
at
a
certain
time
of
the
day,
forwarded
through
Edinburgh
as
the
most
expeditious
route.
There
is
such
a
complexity
of
arrangement
in
the
matter
of
circulation,
and
so
great
a
dependence
of
any
one
part
on
a
great
many
other
surrounding
parts,
that
comparatively
few
persons
ever
thoroughly
understand
it,
and
only
those
who
can
master
it
should
meddle
with
it.
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