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
From the date of the opening of the new General Post-Office,
improvements were proposed and carried out very earnestly. Under the
Duke of Richmond, reforms in the establishment set in with considerable
vigour.[72] He seems to have been the first Postmaster-General during
the present century who thought the accommodation which the Post-Office
gave to the public was really of a restrictive nature; that more
facility might easily be given to the public; and that the system of
management was an erroneous one. In 1834, the Duke of Richmond submitted
a list of improvements to the Treasury Lords, in which there were at
least thirty substantial measures of reform proposed. It is true that
many of these measures had been strongly recommended to him by the
Commissioners of Post-Office Inquiry, who had sat yearly on the
Post-Office and other revenue branches of the public service. The
previous policy, however, of the authorities was to put on a bold front
against any recommendations not originating with themselves. The Duke of
Richmond had considerably less of this feeling than some of his
predecessors. Thus, to take the principal measure of reform concluded in
his time--namely, the complete amalgamation of the Scotch and Irish
Offices with the English Post-Office--we find that the twenty-third
report of the Commissioners, signed by "Wallace," W. J. Lushington,
Henry Berens, and J. P. Dickenson, spoke strongly on the inadequacy "of
the present system of administration to reach the different parts of the
country," and urging the expediency "of providing against any more
conflict of opinion, and of securing a more extended co-operation, as
well as unity of design, in the management of the distinct Offices of
England, Scotland, and Ireland." Again, in 1831, on the recommendation
of the Commission, the Postmaster-General ordered that the boundaries of
the London district post--which, in 1801, became a "Twopenny Post," and
letters for which post, if delivered beyond the boundaries of the cities
of London and Westminster and the borough of Southwark, were charged
threepence--should now be extended to include all places within _three_
miles of the General Post-Office. Two years afterwards, on the
recommendation of another Commission, the limits of the "Twopenny Post"
were again extended to places not exceeding _twelve_ miles from St.
Martin's-le-Grand, and this arrangement continued till the time of
uniform penny postage. The Duke of Richmond likewise appointed a daily
post to France, established a number of new mail-coaches, and abolished,
in great part, the system of paying the clerks, &c. of the Post-Office
by fees, substituting fixed salaries in each case.[73]
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