The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the

APPENDIX I. 469
service, which expense, it is maintained by some, should be charged
to the Post Office.
The claim that the Post Office should be charged with the whole
expense must be considered as barred by the simple fact, that few of
the mail-packets were established either by the Post Office, or for
merely postal purposes, their expense being far requirements
beyond what such
could justify. "To assume that those packets were
really established for Post Office purposes is to charge the Government
with the most absurd extravagance. The West India packets,
for instance, were established at a cost of ^240,000 per annum,
though the utmost return that was expected from letters was
^40,000, leaving the ^200,000 a clear deficit.
" Nor is this comparative uselessness for Post Office purposes
confined to the packets to remote places ; the great cost, even of the
home packets, results from causes independent of the Post Office."*
Indeed, as was stated in the House of Lords by Lord Monteagle,
the first contracts
who, when Chancellor of the Exchequer, arranged
for the mail steamers, "the expense of the packet service, which
was said to swallow up the whole of the revenue now derived from
the Post Office, had no more to do with the Penny Postage than the
expense of the war in Afghanistan or China. It was as distinct
from the Post Office as the expense of the army or navy. The great
packet communication between Great Britain and the British North
American Colonies was undertaken upon much higher principles
than any connected with mere consideration of revenue. It was
felt by the Government of Lord Melbourne that it was not wise to
allow the only rapid mode of communication between the British
possessions in North America and the mother country to be dependent
upon the means afforded by the United States. Means
were accordingly taken to establish a line of communication of our
own. He admitted that this was not done, except at a very heavy
expense ; but it was not right to place that expense to the account of
the Post Office."!
Still, it is obvious that, as these packets do postal work, some
portion of their expense ought to be charged to the Post Office, and
the question of amount'-is what has really to be determined.
Upon this question it is necessary to explain that, upon a suggestion
from the Treasury, viz., that the amount should be "measured
* "Report of Select Committee on Postage (1843)," Mr. R. Hill's evidence,
p. 46.
t "Hansard" Debate in Lords, June 21, 1842.