Her Majesty's Mails

In short, a comparison of the year 1863 with 1838 (the last complete year under the old system) shows that the number of chargeable letters has risen from 76,000,000 to 642,000,000; and that the revenue, at first so much impaired, has not only recovered its original amount, but risen, the gross from 2,346,000l. to about 3,870,000l. and the net from 1,660,000l. to about 1,790,000l.[217] The expectations I held out before the change were, that eventually, under the operation of my plans, the number of letters would increase fivefold, the gross revenue would be the same as before, while the net revenue would sustain a loss of about 300,000l. The preceding statement shows that the letters have increased, not fivefold, but nearly eight and a half fold; that the gross revenue, instead of remaining the same, has increased by about 1,500,000l.; while the net revenue, instead of falling 300,000l., has risen more than 100,000l. While the revenue of the Post-Office has thus more than recovered its former amount, the indirect benefit to the general revenue of the country, arising from the greatly increased facilities afforded to commercial transactions, though incapable of exact estimate, must be very large. Perhaps it is not too much to assume that, all things considered, the vast benefit of cheap, rapid, and extended postal communication has been obtained, even as regards the past, without fiscal loss. For the future, there must be a large and ever-increasing gain. The indirect benefit referred to above is partly manifested in the development of the money-order system, under which, since the year 1839, the annual amount transmitted has risen from 313,000l. to 16,494,000l.--that is, fifty-two fold.