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435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
188
This
was
certainly
a
large
instalment
of
the
improvements
which
the
promoters
of
penny-post
reform
hoped
to
see
realized;
but,
at
the
same
time,
it
was
only
an
instalment.
The
committee
for
which
Mr.
Hill
had
petitioned
must
now
judge
for
themselves
whether
all
had
been
done
that
might
and
ought
to
have
been
done
to
enhance
the
merits
of
the
measure,
and
make
it
as
profitable
to
the
country
as
possible.
In
addition,
it
was
requisite
that
they
should
consider
several
further
suggestions
which
Mr.
Hill
had,
since
the
introduction
of
his
plan,
proposed
as
likely
to
improve
it,
as
well
as
hear
him
on
some
of
the
objections
that
had
been
raised
to
it.
Thus,
with
regard
to
the
latter,
the
Chancellor
of
the
Exchequer
(Mr.
Goulbourn)
had
stated;
just
before
the
committee
was
appointed,
that
"the
Post-Office
did
not
now
pay
its
expenses."
This
statement
was
startling,
inasmuch
as
Colonel
Maberly
himself
had
given
500,000l.
or
600,000l.
as
the
proceeds
of
the
penny
postage
rates
in
the
advent
year
of
the
measure.
But
Mr.
Hill
resolved
the
difficulty.
The
inconsistency
was
explained
quite
simply,
that
in
a
return
furnished
by
the
Post-Office,
the
whole
of
the
cost
of
the
packet-service--a
little
over
600,000l.--was
charged
against
the
Post-Office
revenue.
Though
the
cost
of
the
packets
had
not
been
charged
against
the
Post-Office
for
twenty
years
previously,
this
new
item
was
here
debited
in
the
accounts
to
the
prejudice
of
the
scheme;
and
Mr.
Goulbourn,
who
disclaimed
any
hostility
to
the
new
measure,
thought
himself
justified,
under
the
circumstances,
in
making
the
statement
in
question.
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