The History of the Postmarks of the British Isles from 1840 to 1876 - John Hendy (1909)

IRELAND.
Ill
As regards this arrangement of allowing certain classes of stamps to die out, it is
certainly peculiar to find the old country Penny Post stamp (Fig. 768) in use as late as
1858 ; It was only replaced in 1859 by one of the new circular type (Fig. 769),
(za
F'g- ^S8. Fig. 769.
to
c
It is curious how the names of places alter. For instance, "Straid Carn"—the
latter being an abbreviation for Carndonagh (Fig. 770)— is now known as " Straidarran."
"Muff Don" (Fig. 771) is now known as "Muff." " Shanklin Road" (Fig. 772) is
doubtless an error for "Shankhill Road" ; whilst "Clady" (Fig. 773)
" Claudy."
is now known as
Cam
DerT.y
Fig. 770. Fig. 771.
5HANKLIN rtOAO
BELFAST
Fig. 772. Fig. 773.
In 1853 the gross postal revenue of Great Britain was £2,294,000, and the expenditure
;£i, 204,000, or about fifty per cent of the revenue. The gross postal revenue of
of the principal mails to and from Dublin, the chief effect
Ireland amounted to £198,000, and the expenditure to £185,000, or ninety-three per
cent of the receipts, and no part of the cost of the Packet Service between Holyhead
and Dublin was included in the Irish expenditure. In Great Britain the conveyance of
a letter cost on an average |d. ; in Ireland it cost i
yV^., showing that the expense was
greater than the receipts. In fact, for the year 1854 there was a deficit of between
£2000 and £3000 on the revenue of the Irish Postal Service.
The first railway in Ireland to be made use of for the conveyance of mails was the
Dublin and Kingstown line. The service commenced on the 6th April, 1835, and, as soon
as other lines were opened, the Post Office took advantage of them for the conveyance
being that the postal authorities
were enabled to give day mails to towns which had not day mails before, and also to
establish direct posts between various towns. The use, however, of railways in Ireland
for the conveyance of mails was much retarded by the high charges demanded by the
Companies ; and although the last of the old mail-coaches disappeared from the road in
1852, "Bianconi's" cars continued for many years to be used on various roads all over
the country for the conveyance of mails and passengers. These cars were constructed on
the simplest principle. They were the ordinary Irish jaunting-car enlarged and
elongated. The passengers sat in two rows, back to back, with the luggage piled up
between them. It is said that this mode of travel gave rise to the famous joke that the
differences of opinion among Irish politicians arose from the fact that nobody saw more