EXTRACTS. THE SYDNEY POST OFFICE. (From the Sydney Morning Herald, August 24.)

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 353, 11 September 1849, Page 2

EXTRACTS. THE SYDNEY POST OFFICE. (From the Sydney Morning Herald, August 24.)

A vkrt elaborate and interesting paper, entitled " Postal Statistics," piopared by the Postmaster-Gene-ral ol New South Wales, bat bpen recently niincrd by order of the Legislative Council. To this tabular statements is appended the copy of a correspondence which had taken place between that officer and the Secretary to the I'oitin istei -General in London, on the subject of prepaying postages of letters from the colony to the United Kingdom, and from the United Kingdom to the colony. An airnngcmerU of this kind lias long been wished for by the olouuts since it would so greatly facilitate thcii ep.stnh.ry intercourse with the pnre&t country ; and Mr. Katiiond'a exertion* to cairy their wislie, into effect, deserved to be honorably noticed by the Press. So Jar buck as the Ist December, 1838, now almost eleven years ago, when a system of reciprocal intercom le between the London General Post Office and some or the Continental Pows.s had been recently adopted, Mr. Riymond represented to the Post Office authorities in London, that the inconvenienre of paying the postage on foreign letters in advance wai fell here even more than in England, and in numerous instances impeded, if it did not nltogetior pi event, epistolary communication ; and he thereto. c submitted that some measure should be taken for tho improve* ment of the communication betwetn the inhabitants of tins mins poition of her Majesty's dominions and their fellow-subjects in Greit Biitain and Ireland, to which nothing would more muteiiuliy tend than an optional payment of the entire posture, sea and inland, for both, eouutnes, at the place whence sent, or ut the place of delivery. Such a measure, he stated, wou'd be con8 dered liy the colonies vi a boon of great and me^tim.ibl.' value, ami would be met by ihe sanction of tlic uiitboiitus here with piompt fit-quiescence To this ap|)licitiou Colonel Maboily replied, under diteof 30th May, 1839, that the Postmaster- General had not the power by law to adopt the proposition f,v an optional payment of postage between tho mother countiy and New South Wales; and that even if ho hid, the subjea was .»urrounded puth so many difficulties, fiat his lordship considered it very qu stionab'e whether, under any circumstances, it could bo entertained. lleie the matter rested until the 2nd February, 1841, when Mr. .Raymond addressed a second letter to the London Secictaiy, in which, a.ter referring to the pmious correspondence between them, he stated that the recent changrs in the Post Office department at home induced a hope that something might now be effected, either by the intioduction of a legislative enactment ulowing i he prepayment of postage in full, including the foreign inland postage as well a« ship postage, on letteis posted at any oflice. in Great Britain or New Souih Wales ; or, if that should not be deemed expedient, allowing a »a'e here of the British Po 4 Office Stamps, to be ttanso itted to the Post Office in. Sydney, v/ith requisite instructions, so na to enturo a free delivery in Great Britain, the cost price of any quantity sent to be paid for through the Colonial Agent in London, or remitted from hence in any way his lordship might direct. In conclusion, Mr. EUymoiiil observed that he had been led to this second} application Irom an mci eased desire on the part of the colonists to share in the liberality shown to their fellow-subjecU at home ; and he assured the Secretary that the same desire prevuiled with the Government and Council, whoie prompt acquiescence in giving effect to any meaiure which the Pontmaater-GeneraH might propose, he could confidently promise; Again was the application met with a cold and! almost contemptuous rejection. Under date of 28th Atigubt, 1811, Colonel Maberly replied to the last mentioned letter, that the PostmastcroGeneral had not found reason to alter the opinion he formerly ex* preised as to the expediency of establishing optional payment between England and New South Walei ; and that the use of postage stamps upon letters forwarded to England from tho colonies, or other parts abroad, had from the fust been objected to by the Treasury. It is added, however, as if to make the sting of tho i ejection the more keenly felt, that being denirous of. affording the pioposition the benefit of consideration by her Majesty's Government, his lordship has submitted Mr. Raymond's letter to the Lords of the Treasury, who fully concurred in hit lordship's view of the subject. Now, without presuming to be so competent as the authorities of St. Martin le Grand and Whitehall to form a judgment ai to the " many difficulties" with which tho bubject is said to be " surrounded," the c lonists may smely venture to entertain the belief, that the difficulties could not be greater with refeicnce to the colonies than with reference to the United States of America; and that as they have bfen entirely overcome in the one case, tin y could not have been insurmountable in the other. They must alho hmic and feel, thut in extending the benefit! of free intercommunication to foreign states aid withholding them from her Majesty's colonies, the Home Government have been gmlty of gross injustice and wa ilon cruelty. They have, in fact, in this importaut part'oular, revemed their own vaunted maxim, haviDff treated foieign itatei as integral parts of the United Kingdom, and their own colonies ai foreign itatei: We h' pc the Legiilativc Council and the Colonial Government will rtraomtrate against this monstrously

unfair treatment, until justice be done to New South Wales. . . We must now divert to some of the principal facts elucidated by the Postal Statistics, The Post Office of this colony is said to have been "first established 1 ' in the j.ar 1828. Uj the word " established" is meant, no doubt, regularly organized ; for the old colonies well remember the little Post Office which used to stand near the Queen's Wharf, and of which the late Mr. Paiton was p >stra»ster many years befoie JS2B With the year 1828, however, the tallies before us commence, endiu" with 1848, a round period of twenty years. To show the progress made by the colouy duune that period, in so far as the transactions of our Post Office may bs taken as a criterion, and they flfcre undoubtedly a very good criterion, let us look at the figures of 1828, 1833, and 1848, or of other distant year* for which retu-ns aie given. ; And first, as to the Post Office revenue. In 1828 this was £598; m 1838, £8390; and in 1848, £20,000. Here we have an increase averaging, in the first ten years, JC779 per annum ; in the last t<±n years, per annum; and in the whole twenty, i'lolo per annum. The total revenue of the first eleven years exceeded the total expenditure of those yours by £8')0 ; while the total expenditure of the last ten years exceeded the total revenue by £4600. It results, therefore, that on the whole, the General Revenue has not gained by the Post Office, but has lost to the extent of £3SOO. The number of post offices in Ihe colony was, in 1828, 8; in 1838, 10 ; and in 18J8, 101 ; having increased, during the first ten \ears, fhe-H>ld ; during the last ten, two and a half fold ; and in the whole twenty, nearly thirteen fold. The number of miles travelled by the mails in the year, exclusive of water carriage, was, in 1828, 40,600 miles; in 1838,253,801) miles; and in 1848, 633,000 miles. Here is an increase, in the first ten years, of moie than six fold ; in the lust ten, of two and a hall fold ; and in the whole twenty, of more than fifteen fold. The numbers of letters and newspapeis passed through the post-office are not given for 1828, and only at broken m'.eryaU for subsequent years. The numbei ot inland letters, exclusive of franks, transmitted through the Sydney Post office, was, in 1829, 15,600; in 1838. 168,500; and in 1848, 272,100. This increase averaged, duiini; the first nine year's, 17,000 letters per annum; during the last ten years, 10,400 per annum ; and during the whole niueteen years, 13,510 per annum. Prior to IP4O, the ship letters are not distinguished from newspapers received by ship. The number of thip letters passed through the Sydney Post Office in 184-0 was 157,000 ; in 1848, 107,000. The number of inland newspapers sent through the Sydney Post Office was, in 1829, 88 90"; in 1838, 297,200; and in 1848, 644,400. This increase averaged, in the first nine years, 23,000 newspapers ppr annum ; in the last ten years, 34,700 per annum ; and in the whole nineteen years, 29,200 per annum. The total number of letters ami newspapers received and desp itched at the General Post Office, Sydney, was, in 1829, 89,000; in 1838, 787,000 ; and in 1848, 1 592,5"0. Here is an average iucreaie, in the first nine years, of 77,500 letters and newspapers ppr annum; in the last ten years, of more than 80,500 per annum; and in the whole nineteen yeais, of more than 79,000 per annum. These facts afford a new and very instructive view of our social progress during the last twenty years.