The History of the Post Office, from Its Establishment Down to 1836Joyce, Herbert
History
The History of the Post Office, from Its Establishment Down to 1836
Joyce, Herbert
Postal service -- Great Britain -- History
The economical results which had been looked for were not immediately
realised. The boats hitherto in use may not perhaps have been built with
the view of facilitating smuggling; and yet, crowded as they were
between decks with cupboards, they could hardly have been better adapted
to the purpose. In the new boats no receptacles were to be allowed in
which clandestine goods could be concealed; the holds were to be only
large enough to contain the stores and provisions for the voyage; the
seamen were no longer to remain unrestricted as to the size and number
of their boxes; and in other respects stringent regulations were laid
down to prevent illicit traffic. Finding what they called their ventures
stopped, the crews of the packets refused to go to sea without an
increase of pay all round. These ventures, they contended, had been
recognised from time immemorial and went in place of so much wages. How
else would it have been possible for them, many of them men with wives
and families, to subsist on a pittance of 23s. a month? The Post Office
was forced to yield to the demand; and as the immediate result of his
first essay in the cause of economy, Walsingham had the mortification of
seeing the cost of the packet establishment increased by more than £2300
a year.
From Falmouth Walsingham turned his attention to other ports where
packets were stationed. At Dover and at Harwich the establishments were
too small to admit of any reduction. At the latter port, indeed, what
little change took place was on the side of increase, the victualling
allowance being raised from 7-1/2d. a day for each man to 9d., so as to
be uniform with that given at Falmouth; and for the same reason the
seamen's wages were raised from 23s. a month to 28s.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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