THE POST OFFICE.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 99, 9 October 1863, Page 3

THE POST OFFICE.

The ninth annual report of the Post-master-General of Great Britain, being 1 for the year 1 862, has been published. ! lfcj states that by substituting road letterr* boxes ihe number of post offices last yea*; \vae diminished by 80, making the present, number 11,316, of which 808 are head ofSces and 10,508 sub-offices. On the other hand, the number of road letter-boxesf was increased by 51 L. Thus the whole;nuraber of public receptacales for letters} is now 14,776, as compared with 14,854; last year, and with little more than 4,500: before establishment of penny postage.The distances travelled by mail coaches,' steam packets, railway trains, &c, carry-| ing the mail-bags, was 160,000 miles perl day, being 7,00Q miles per day more than: in 1861. The mails traversed on railways? were 49,7 82 ; by mail-coaches, omnibuses,' &c, 3-3,731 ; on foot, 7^006; and by £ mail packet boats, 2.B4ST "The total number of letters delivered in the United Kingdom was 605,000,000, -being an- -increase of 2 per ceut. on the numbers in '61, and an average of 2lto ; gaph person*. They proportion in each country , was, England, 197,000,000 ; Ireland, 51,000,01)0 ; Scotland 57,000,000— an average of 24, 9, and 19 to^ each country respectively ; while the perf centage of increase on 1861, in each country was— England, 2\ percent. ; Ireland,?' per cent.; Scot /'and, ijr i>er cent. The; augmentation last year was unusual, as it amounted in 1858 to 3£ per cent. ; 1859. 4i; 1860, 34; 1861, 5 i; 1862; 2 ; averago; annual increase about ,3|. \ The .regent' measures for the compulsory -registration', of letters have been successful, causing, ani increase of 37 per cent, in the number of 1 registered letters as compared with an in-' ; crease of 4 per cent., while the applications for missing letters have been dimi-, jiishefL Nearly half a million of letters passed through the temporary office at the International Exhibition. The number of newspapers delivered last year was nearly^ 73,000,000, which it, about half a million more than in the previous year ; and the number of book packets was rather more than 14,000,000, being: an increase upon the previous year of .about- 1 ,700,000, or; nearly 14 per cent. J)uring the last year* 1 31. additional money order offices were opened in England and Wales, 23 in [reland, and 8 in Scotland ; eight, however, having been closed for want ok business. Thus, the whole number of money-order offices in the United King- ) dom is now 2879. The number of money' orders issued was 7,587,045, or in proportion of 1 to 4 of the population. The 7 amount was £15,701,259. In England the s proportion was Ito 3 'of the population ; in Ireland, 1 to 11 ; and in Scotland, 1 to, 5. The savings banks have made saJisfactory progress Last year 180,000 depositors opened accounts, and the whole' number of banks at the end of 1862 was 2532, namely: 1033 in England, 300 int Ireland, and 299 in Scotland. The number of deposits was 592,532; amount, £] ,947,138 ; while the withdrawlas were 94,427, amounting to £431,618 — the number of depositors remaining in account at the close of the year being £176,569, wiih deposits amounting to .£1,681,107; an average of £0 10s sd. The report also contains full details of the arrangements" made for foreign postal service, and copious tables, explaining and giving details of the' facts we have summarised. . >-