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1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
227
The
cost
of
running
a
train
may
be
reckoned,
in
most
cases,
at
fifteen
pence
per
mile;
and
thus
the
Post-Office,
for
the
use
of
a
fraction
of
a
train,
may
be
said
constantly
to
be
paying
at
the
rate
of
from
sixty
to
three
hundred
per
cent.
in
excess
of
the
whole
cost
of
running!
The
Postmaster-General
stated
that
the
terms
upon
which
one
railway
company
would
undertake
postal
service
was
totally
disproportionate
to
those
of
a
neighbouring
company.
On
the
other
hand,
all
the
companies
were
alike
dissatisfied,
however
dissimilar
the
contracts,
or
the
terms
imposed
and
agreed
to.[133]
Moreover,
it
was
declared
next
to
impossible
to
secure
regularity
and
punctuality
in
the
conveyance
of
mails,
and
to
agree
to
amicable
arbitration
for
the
services
which
were
done,
until
the
Legislature
should
lay
down
reasonable
laws,
binding
all
the
companies
alike.
A
Bill
was
introduced
into
the
House
of
Lords
regulating
the
arrangements
between
the
Post-Office
and
the
different
companies.
Though
it
was
carefully
prepared,
it
was
strongly
opposed
by
the
railway
interest
in
Parliament.
The
opposition
was
all
the
more
unreasonable,
inasmuch
as
many
of
its
clauses
sought
to
remove
objections
to
the
existing
law
which
railway
companies
had
frequently
complained
of.
As
far
as
the
Post-Office
was
concerned,
it
seems
to
have
been
the
extent
of
the
wish
of
the
authorities
that
the
question
of
remuneration
might
be
based
on
the
actual
cost
of
running
the
trains,
making
due
allowance,
on
the
one
hand,
for
the
benefits
accruing
to
the
companies
from
their
connexion
with
the
mail
service,
and
adding,
on
the
other
hand,
compensation
for
any
special
extra
expenses
to
which
the
companies
might
be
subjected
by
the
requirements
of
that
service,
together
with
a
full
allowance
for
profit.[134]
The
Bill
also
provided
for
the
more
extensive
employment
of
ordinary
passenger
trains,--not,
however,
to
the
supercession
of
the
regular
mail-trains--for
the
exclusive
employment
of
certain
trains
for
postal
purposes,
for
penalties,
&c.
The
measure
had
been
brought
in
late
in
the
session,
and
was
eventually
withdrawn.
The
Bill
itself,
with
its
twenty-one
clauses,
forms
part
of
the
Appendix
to
the
Postmaster-General's
fourth
report;
and
as
the
basis
of
arrangements
between
the
two
interests
is
still
unsettled
and
uncertain,
the
Duke
of
Argyll
there
commends
it
to
the
careful
attention
of
the
public,
as
well
as
to
the
fair
consideration
of
the
railway
authorities
themselves.
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