The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance

Upon all letters delivered by two of the postmen--the two first mentioned--a halfpenny per letter over and above the postage was charged for delivery; in the other case the ordinary postage only was levied. The reason for the additional charge was no doubt this that the postmaster was allowed by the Department only one postman, and that consequently the wages of the other men who were necessarily employed had to be met by the special tax referred to. The following minute of the Postmaster-General, dated 28th October 1792, while in some sense affording an explanation of the matter, shows that somewhat peculiar notions prevailed with regard to providing force where such was required. It runs as follows:-- "There are only two instances in the kingdom where more than one letter-carrier is allowed, viz., Portsmouth and Bath. I understand it has been held as a general rule not to allow more than one to any other place, however extensive and populous it may be; in the two exceptions to this rule the inhabitants had been accustomed to pay the deputies a gratuity for delivering the letters, but having refused to continue the payment, these postmasters felt their income considerably reduced, and I believe it was not till after much discussion the rule was broke through." The minute continues as follows:--"Mr Palmer had some ideas respecting such a modification of the rates of postage as might induce the inhabitants of every place in the kingdom to pay with cheerfulness an extra halfpenny or penny over and above the rates; this extra payment to be sanctioned by an Act of Parliament; and then the whole amount of the sums now paid for letter-carriers, being L1927, 8s. per year, would be saved to the Revenue." If this accurately represents Mr Palmer's ideas, Mr Palmer did not quite understand the British public.