One means of economising the time of the letter-carriers, which I had contemplated from the first, was to induce the public to provide themselves with letter-boxes to the doors of their houses; and I now suggested to the Postmaster-General the expediency of addressing a circular on the subject, in his name, to the inhabitants of London. I proposed that it should give information as to the cost of change, and offer Post Office assistance in case of difficulty. At the time the Postmaster-General concurred in all this, but for some months nothing was done. "_March 29th._--The P.M.G. has sent me a private note stating his apprehension that the circular as to letter-boxes, &c., will be ridiculed, and proposing to leave out all information as to prices, &c. As he had previously sanctioned the circular, I suppose some one must have excited these apprehensions. To me it appears ridiculous to issue a circular without giving the information which every one naturally desires; but of course it must be altered." Letter-boxes, however, have become frequent, though far from being so general as both economy and public convenience require. Neither the Postmaster-General nor I imagined that the circular, limited as it was, could give offence to any one. Nevertheless, it produced some angry letters,--among others, one from the late Marquis of Londonderry, who indignantly demanded whether the Postmaster-General actually expected that he should cut a slit in his mahogany door! MINOR IMPROVEMENT. _Railway Notices._ The following minor improvement may perhaps be worth mentioning, as being, if not particularly beneficial to the department, at least very economical to that large portion of the public which is interested in railway extension. Railway notices were at that time served personally on landholders and occupiers by the solicitors of the companies, at the rate of one guinea for each notice. The Speaker of the House of Commons (now Lord Eversley) sent his private secretary, Mr. (now Sir Erskine) May,[55] to confer with me on the expediency of having the notices in question served by means of registered letters. To this there was a very serious obstacle in the fact of the delivery not extending to every house, so that I had to devise means by which this difficulty might be overcome. At the end of four months, however, and in fair time for the notices of the season, a plan which Mr. May and I jointly concocted having received the sanction of Government, the proposed regulations were issued; the effect being to reduce the expense of serving a notice from one guinea to sixpence. I had, in due time, the satisfaction to learn that the plan, as adopted, worked smoothly, though it certainly appeared that some solicitors were in no special haste to avail themselves of the new facility.