Her Majesty's Mails: An Historical and Descriptive Account of the British Post-OfficeLewins, William
History
Her Majesty's Mails: An Historical and Descriptive Account of the British Post-Office
Lewins, William
Postal service -- Great Britain
4. _The Receiver and Accountant-General's Office_ takes account of the
money of each department, remittances being received here from all the
other branches and each provincial town in England. General accounts of
revenue and expenditure are also kept, this office being charged with
the examination of the postage and revenue accounts of each postmaster.
All salaries, pensions, and items of current expenditure are also paid
through this office. In 1763, the duties of these offices, then
distinct, were performed by a receiver, an accountant, and four clerks.
Now, the appointments comprise the receiver and accountant-general, a
chief examiner, a chief cashier, a principal book-keeper, with
forty-seven clerks in three classes, and nine messengers.
5. _The Money-order Office_, occupying a separate building in Aldersgate
Street, takes charge of the whole of the money-order business of the
country, in addition to doing an enormous amount of work as a
money-order office for the metropolis. Of course, everything relating to
this particular branch of post-office business, and also some part of
the savings' bank accounts, pass through this channel. Each provincial
postmaster sends a daily account of his transactions to this office.
Attached to the Money-order Office, we find a controller, a chief clerk,
an examiner, a book-keeper, 112 clerks in three classes, and 27
messengers.
6. _The Circulation Office_ in London manages the ordinary post-office
work of the metropolis. In it, or from it, all the letters, newspapers,
and book-packets posted at, or arriving in, London, are sorted,
despatched, and delivered. Not only so; but in this office nearly all
the continental, and most part of the other foreign mails for the whole
of the British Islands, are received, sorted, and despatched. Under
ordinary circumstances, moreover, British letters for a great number of
places are sent in transit through London, where it is requisite they
should be rearranged and forwarded. This daily Herculean labour is
performed by the clerks, sorters, and letter-carriers attached to the
department. The ten district-offices in London, engaged with the same
kind of work on a small scale, are subordinate to the Circulation Office
at St. Martin's-le-Grand. The Registered Letter Branch, employing no
less than fifty clerks, and the Returned Letter Branch, with the Office
for Blind Letters, are parts of the Circulation Department. The _major_
branch of the Circulation Office comprises the controller, a
vice-controller, 15 deputy-controllers, and 251 clerks in three classes.
The _minor_ establishment, as it is called, employs no fewer than 2,398
persons. In this force are included 42 inspectors of letter-carriers in
three classes; the rest, being composed of sorters, stampers,
letter-carriers, and messengers.
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