In 1864 the total number of boxes despatched during the year had risen
to 16,559, an average of 345 per despatch. The actual weight of these
16,559 boxes was 690 tons, an average of nearly 14½ tons per despatch.
If we compute these mails according to the rules by which articles are
received on board ships—that is by _measurement_ or _bulk_—the tonnage
was 1,540 tons, or an average per voyage of 32 tons.
The greatest mail carried by any one steamer was by the departure from
Southampton of the 20th of April, 1864. There were 1,117 boxes; they
weighed 46 tons actual weight, but by measurement they were 99 tons.
In 1865 the total number of boxes despatched was 17,839, being 1,280
more than in 1864. The average per despatch was 372. The actual weight
of these 17,839 boxes was 747 tons, an average of a little more than
15½ tons per despatch. Their tonnage by measurement or bulk was 1,660
tons, or an average per voyage of 35 tons. The greatest mail carried by
any one steamer was by the departure from Southampton of the 20th of
November. There were 1,207 boxes; they weighed 49¾ tons actual weight;
but by measurement, 106½ tons. The mail despatched on the 20th of each
month is, of course, invariably the heaviest, containing as it does the
Australian mail, which mail usually consists of about six times as many
boxes as are despatched to Egypt, India, China, and Japan combined. The
mail despatched on the 27th of each month is invariably the lightest;
the mail despatched on the 12th is the second lightest; next comes in
weight the mail despatched on the 4th.
I was favoured last month with official returns, which give the
number of boxes despatched outwards, both _viâ_ Marseilles and _viâ_
Southampton, during the months of January, February and March of this
present year, and the same information as regards mails received
inwards. As these returns give the latest information respecting the
mails conveyed by both routes, I send you the following very full
compilation of them.
Number of boxes of Eastern mails despatched from and received at London
during the first three months of 1867:-
_Viâ_ SOUTHAMPTON.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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