During the official postal year from July 1831 to July 1832, there were 133 successful prosecutions for illegally sending and conveying letters. The fines collected amounted to £1635, the costs paid by defendants to £1085. The prosecutions were generally for a few letters only and the great majority of the cases were brought in Manchester. In the case of forty-one additional actions, the Postmaster-General did not enforce the penalties, certain explanations having been given.[775] Rowland Hill thought that the conveyance of letters by private and unauthorized people was very widespread and the Solicitor of the Post Office agreed with him.[776] [775] _Acc. & P._, 1834, xlix, 19, pp. 2-7. [776] _Rep. Com._, 1837-38, xx, pt. 1, pp. 17, 23. The reports of the Committee appointed to enquire into the condition of the Post Office and to hear the opinions of officials and the public concerning the introduction of Penny Postage disclosed an amazing state of affairs. The opinion that evasion of postage was more or less general had been held by the public for some time as well as by a few of the Post Office officials[777] but, after the evidence upon the question was published, there was no longer any doubt that the views of the public were correct. Some difficulty had been anticipated that men who had violated the law of the land would prefer not to confess their misdeeds before a Parliamentary Committee. They were accordingly assured that any evidence given would not be used against them, and the names of some were expressed by letters only, when the reports were published. [777] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xx, questions 234, 2883, 4692, 10870-74; rep. 1, app., pp. 427, 431, 433; rep. 2, p. 32. The means by which postage rates were evaded may be conveniently grouped under two main heads, legal and illegal. The most common methods of evading postage in whole or in part by legal means were:-- By the use of Parliamentary and Official franks.[778] By enclosing invoices and other communications in goods.[779] By the use of codes and signals expressed by sending particular newspapers or, when something in the nature of news or reports was to be communicated to many, an advertisement or report was printed in a newspaper and the newspapers were sent.[780] By means of a letter or package sent to a mercantile house with many letters on one sheet of paper for other people. These were delivered by messengers. Money was sometimes sent in the same way.[781] [778] _Rep. Com._, 1837-38, xx, qs. 3452, 3754-56, 4330-33, 4152, 6059, 6204, 6971, 8051, 9122-30, 10481, 5486-92-95, 4934-45, 5536, 3953, 6174-87. By this means Dr. Dionysius Lardner sent and received the greater part of an extensive literary correspondence (qs. 5487-96). [779] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xx, qs. 3206-07, 3368-69, 3516-45, 3872, 4080, 4116-17, 4906, 5434, 6895, 7740, 7742-50, 7242-48. [780] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xx, qs. 3923, 6683, 7419-23.