After the separation of the Irish from the English Post Office, different postage rates had been established for the two countries. The division of authority thus established had caused endless difficulties. Complaints about the delay or loss of letters crossing the Channel at Kingstown, Howth, and Waterford were referred from one office to the other. The Commissioners who inquired into the condition of the Dublin Office found things in a deplorable condition. There were nearly as many postal officials employed in Dublin as in London, although the number of letters handled was not one fourth so great. In the secretary's office, employing six persons, the fees amounted to £2648 a year, largely on English and Irish newspapers. In the whole Dublin establishment they averaged over £15,000 a year. The contracts for the supply and horsing of the mail-coaches were supposed to be public but they were awarded by favour. The Postmasters-General did not attend to business and were very jealous of each other. The Commissioners recommended the amalgamation of the English and Irish offices, and this was accomplished in 1831, the Irish postage rates having been altered four years earlier to coincide with the English rates.[235] [235] _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xii, 253, pp. 7, 8, 15-84; _ibid._, 1837, 7th rep., app. nos. 22, 68; 7 and 8 Geo. IV, c. 21. Ireland was divided into eight postal divisions, according to the routes of the mail-coaches. Mails left Dublin at 7 A.M. with an additional mail for Cork at noon. They arrived in Dublin between 6 and 7 A.M. The most important postal centres in addition to Dublin were Belfast, Cork, Limerick, and the packet stations at Waterford and Donaghadee. The total number of post towns in Ireland was 414. At the same time there were in Great Britain 546 post towns.[236] A new post office building was completed in Dublin in 1821 at a cost of £107,000.[237] [236] _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xii, 253, pp. 7, 8; 1831-32, xvii, p. 325. [237] 48 Geo. III, c. 48; _Parl. Papers_, 1821, xix, 286. The Scotch Post Office had been amalgamated with the English Office in 1711, and Scotland was constituted one of the eighteen postal divisions of Great Britain. The Scotch rates had been the same as the English rates since that date, although an additional half-penny was paid on Scotch letters to meet mail-coach tolls. In 1821 there were only eight towns for which mails were made up. At the same time that a new building for the use of the Post Office was being erected in Dublin, a contract was signed for a new General Office building for Edinburgh to cost £14,000.[238] [238] _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xii, 353, p. 8; _Parl. Papers_, 1821, xxi, 423.