The foreign post continued in an unsatisfactory state, and a reorganization in accordance with a proposition submitted by the Master of the Foreign Posts, Thomas Witherings, was notified in orders issued on the 28th January 1633. In consequence of complaints, both of Ministers of State and merchants, it was decided to send no more letters by the carriers, who came and went at pleasure, but, in conformity with other nations, to erect "stafetti," or packet posts, at fit stages, to run day and night without ceasing. Under this new system the Foreign Postmaster of England undertook, with the consent of the foreign Governments, to provide "stafetti" for the conveyance of foreign letters on the Continent, e.g. he arranged the "stafetti" between Calais and Antwerp. For the inland posts the financial arrangements of 1603 remained some thirty years undisturbed, and notwithstanding that the posts were used by travellers, and for the general conveyance of private letters, they remained a charge on the King's revenue. In 1633 the deficit was some £3,400, and in that year Witherings submitted a plan for the complete reorganization of the inland posts.[26] The new system, which applied only to the "post for the pacquet," was to be based on a definite scale of charges. Previously, there had been no regular system of charging letters carried for the public, and it is at this point that the modern Post Office emerges. Up to this time the conveyance of letters for private individuals, although it may have been a source of emolument to the postmasters and couriers, was not recognized by the State as part of the function of the service. Under the proposed system, a charge was to be made for every letter or packet, varying in accordance with the distance for which the letter or packet was conveyed, and its size. The latter was to be graduated for light letters according to the number of sheets, and for heavier letters and packets according to weight, starting from the ounce. Here, therefore, is to be seen at the inception of "postage" in the modern sense a definite distinction between the rate charged on the ordinary letter, the weight and bulk of which are in general insignificant, and that charged on the larger and heavier packets of deeds, or what not, which might be forwarded by post. The reform of the posts on these lines was carried out by Witherings in October 1635, and constitutes a remarkable development of the Post Office system. The rates of charge were as follow:--