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1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
70
Previous
to
this
proposal,
letters
passing
between
neighbouring
towns
were
conveyed
by
circuitous
routes,
often
requiring
to
go
to
the
metropolis
and
to
be
sent
back
again
by
another
post-road,
thus,
in
these
days
of
slow
locomotion,
causing
serious
delay.
Allen
proposed
a
complete
reconstruction
of
the
cross-post
system,
and
guaranteed
a
great
improvement
to
the
revenue
as
well
as
better
accommodation
to
the
country.
By
his
representations,
he
induced
the
Lords
of
the
Treasury
to
grant
him
a
lease
of
the
cross-posts
for
life.
His
engagements
were
to
bear
all
the
cost
of
his
new
service,
and
pay
a
fixed
rental
of
6,000l.
a-year,
on
which
terms
he
was
to
retain
all
the
surplus
revenue.
From
time
to
time
the
contract
was
renewed,
but
of
course
at
the
same
rental;
each
time,
however,
the
Government
required
Allen
to
include
other
branches
of
road
in
his
engagement,
so
that
at
his
death,
in
1764,
the
cross-posts
had
extended
to
all
parts
of
the
country.
Towards
the
last,
the
private
project
had
become
so
gigantic
as
to
be
nearly
unmanageable,
and
it
was
with
something
like
satisfaction
that
the
Post-Office
authorities
saw
it
lapse
to
the
Crown.
At
this
time
it
was
considered
one
of
the
chief
duties
of
the
surveyors--whose
business
it
was
to
visit
each
deputy
postmaster
in
the
course
of
the
year--to
see
that
the
distinction
between
the
bye-letters
of
the
cross-posts,
the
postage
of
which
belonged
to
Mr.
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