A yet more important measure, however, as being even more general in its operation, was to relieve contractors from the admiralty surveys of the vessels, previously insisted upon, and to limit the demand to a stipulation--under adequate penalties--that the mail service should be regularly performed within a given time. It was not without much difficulty that the sanction of the Postmaster-General was obtained to so great an innovation. The measure, however, was in full accordance with the spirit of Lord Canning's Report on the packet service; and, before it was recommended, good assurance had been received that the alterations required by the Admiralty, though often attended with heavy expense, really tended to render the vessels employed less fit for the performance of their special service. In short, the measure was, practically speaking, carried into effect; and, so far as I can learn, has never given rise to a single complaint. Its pecuniary benefit was exemplified by a tender subsequently made for a particular service by Sir Edward Cunard; the effect being to reduce the annual charge, in this one contract alone, from £23,000 to £19,000, a rate of saving, which, when applied to the whole cost of the packet service, would amount to about £200,000 a year. _Readjustment of Transmarine Rates._ Concurrently with these and other measures for reducing the cost of the service, my brother sought to do something towards meeting its inevitable expense by a moderate increase of postage in quarters where the charges for conveyance were proportionately the heaviest. Experience had shown that, where transmission necessarily occupies a long time, increase of correspondence depends far less on lowered rates than on increased speed and frequency of transmission. He felt, moreover that it could not be just to call upon the British tax-payers generally to pay exorbitantly for advantages specially appertaining to the comparatively few persons who were directly interested in foreign and colonial correspondence; that every branch of the postal service ought to be self-supporting, and the false principle of protection to particular interests entirely shut out. At the same time, to meet the convenience of those who required cheapness rather than speed, he proposed a concurrent reduction on all letters sent by ordinary trading vessels; a mode of conveyance involving very little expense. A change so doubtful of acceptance, though so sound in principle, Lord Stanley of Alderley had the courage to adopt; and it received the cordial approbation of Mr. Gladstone, then Chancellor of the Exchequer. _Fiscal Benefits._