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1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
234
The
special
train,
which
had
been
in
waiting
for
about
forty-eight
hours,
left
the
Holyhead
Station
at
8.13
A.M.,
and
it
was
from
this
point
that
the
most
remarkable
part
of
this
rapid
express
commenced.
The
run
from
Holyhead
to
Stafford,
130½
miles,
occupied
only
145
minutes,
being
at
the
rate
of
no
less
than
fifty-four
miles
an
hour;
and
although
so
high
a
speed
was
judiciously
not
attempted
over
the
more
crowded
portion
of
the
line
from
Stafford
to
London,
the
whole
distance
from
Holyhead
to
Euston,
264
miles,
was
performed
by
the
London
and
North-Western
Company
in
exactly
five
hours,
or
at
a
speed
of
about
52-2/3
miles
an
hour,
a
speed
unparalleled
over
so
long
a
line,
crowded
with
ordinary
traffic.
The
entire
distance
from
Queenstown
Pier
to
Euston
Square,
about
515
miles,
was
thus
traversed
in
fifteen
hours
and
three
minutes,
or
at
an
average
speed
of
about
thirty-four
and
a
quarter
miles
an
hour,
including
all
delays
necessary
for
the
several
transfers
of
the
mails
from
boat
to
railway,
or
vice
versâ....
By
means
of
the
invention
for
supplying
the
tender
with
water
from
a
trough
in
transitu,
the
engine
was
enabled
to
run
its
first
stage
of
130½
miles,
from
Holyhead
to
Stafford,
without
stopping."
During
the
session
of
1860-1,
an
Act
was
passed
through
Parliament
for
the
establishment
of
Post-Office
Savings'
Banks
on
a
plan
proposed
by
Mr.
Sykes,
of
Huddersfield.
In
order
to
encourage
the
registration
of
letters
containing
coin
or
valuable
articles,
the
registration
fee
was
reduced,
in
1862,
from
6d.
to
4d.
each
letter.
At
the
same
time,
the
plan
of
compulsory
registration
of
letters
was
revived,
and
applied
to
all
letters
passing
through
the
London
Office
which
contained,
or
were
supposed
to
contain,
coin.
Last
year
the
plan
was
found
to
have
been
so
successful
in
its
results,
that
it
was
extended
to
all
inland
letters.
The
public
may
judge
of
the
benefits
and
blessings
of
this
proscriptive
measure--to
the
officers
of
the
Post-Office
at
any
rate--when
we
state
that
the
convictions
for
letter-stealing,
since
the
plan
was
fully
adopted,
have
been
reduced
more
than
ninety
per
cent.
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