"_December 31st, 1851._--Frederic has succeeded in satisfying Smith (President of the London District Office) of the practicability of a considerable improvement in the delivery of the general post letters in those parts of the suburbs of London which are about four or five miles from the Post Office. For the last three or four weeks the delivery at Brixton and in the neighbourhood has been about two hours earlier than theretofore, and the improvement will shortly be extended to Hampstead, Highgate, Stoke Newington, and many other places about equally distant from the Post Office, if the Treasury sanction the small increase of expense necessary. The measure will be a step towards the more perfect plan which I attempted to carry out more than four years ago, but which I was obliged to abandon for the time in consequence of Smith's objections. "_January 31st, 1852._--The further improvement in the suburban deliveries commenced this morning. At my house [Hampstead] the general post letters were delivered just before nine o'clock, instead of, as heretofore, about half-past eleven." The hour of morning delivery has now, for many years, been as early as eight. This acceleration by three hours and a-half in the principal delivery of the day, especially to the large class resident in the suburbs of London, whose occupations require that they shall leave home by nine or ten o'clock in the morning, is obviously very important. In many cases it makes the difference of a day in their ability to reply. _Facilities for Posting._ Up to this time pillar-boxes were unknown in England,[121] though already in use not only in France, where they were an old institution, but also in some of the principal towns of Germany, and even in the villages of the Channel Islands. "_January 8th, 1852._--We had a conversation on the subject of street letter-boxes, when I found that the Postmaster-General was not disinclined to a trial of them in the great thoroughfares of London." Postal convenience at railway stations was also still unknown. "_February 13th._--The Postmaster-General has sanctioned a measure of mine which, I expect, will have the effect of converting the railway stations in all the larger towns into gratuitous receiving offices." It was still, however, some time before the plan was carried into effect. NUMBER OF LETTERS. The following entries show the progressive increase of letters during this period:--