The prayer of the petition was granted, and its proceedings are duly chronicled.[113] The object of this committee was "to inquire into the measures which have been adopted for the general introduction of a penny rate of postage, and for facilitating the conveyance of letters; the results of such measures, as far as relates to the revenue and expenditure of the Post-Office and the general convenience of the country; and to report their observations thereon to the House." Before proceeding to give any account of the further measures brought under discussion in connexion with this committee, we must give, in a few sentences, a _résumé_ of the principal improvements which had actually been carried out during the interval of the sittings of the two committees.
1. The uniform rate of one penny for a letter not above half an ounce, with weight adopted as the standard for increase of charge.
2. The value of a system of prepayment was established,[114] the necessary facility being afforded by the introduction of postage-stamps. Double postage was levied on letters not prepaid _in London only_.
3. Day-mails were established on the principal railway-lines running out of London, thus giving some of the principal towns in the provinces one additional delivery, with two mails from the metropolis in one day.
4. An additional delivery was established in London, and two were given to some of the suburbs.
5. Colonial and foreign rates for letters were greatly lowered, the inland rates--viz. the rates paid for those letters passing through this country--being abandoned altogether in some cases, as Mr. Hill had recommended.
6. The privilege of franking, private and official, was abolished, and low charges made for the transmission of parliamentary papers.
7. Arrangements were made for the registration of letters.
8. The Money-order Office was rendered available to a fourfold extent. And--
9. The number of letters increased from 75 millions in 1838-9, to 219 millions in 1842-3.[115]
This was certainly a large instalment of the improvements which the promoters of penny-post reform hoped to see realized; but, at the same time, it was only an instalment. The committee for which Mr. Hill had petitioned must now judge for themselves whether all had been done that might and ought to have been done to enhance the merits of the measure, and make it as profitable to the country as possible. In addition, it was requisite that they should consider several further suggestions which Mr. Hill had, since the introduction of his plan, proposed as likely to improve it, as well as hear him on some of the objections that had been raised to it. Thus, with regard to the latter, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Goulbourn) had stated; just before the committee was appointed, that "the Post-Office did not now pay its expenses." This statement was startling, inasmuch as Colonel Maberly himself had given 500,000_l._ or 600,000_l._ as the proceeds of the penny postage rates in the advent year of the measure. But Mr. Hill resolved the difficulty. The inconsistency was explained quite simply, that in a return furnished by the Post-Office, the whole of the cost of the packet-service--a little over 600,000_l._--was charged against the Post-Office revenue. Though the cost of the packets had not been charged against the Post-Office for twenty years previously, this new item was here debited in the accounts to the prejudice of the scheme; and Mr. Goulbourn, who disclaimed any hostility to the new measure, thought himself justified, under the circumstances, in making the statement in question.