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See also:BRITISH COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES
Australian See also:Commonwealth.—In 1905 there were 6654 See also:post offices open; 311,401,539 letters and See also:cards, 171,844,868 See also:news-papers, See also:book-packets and circulars, 2,168,810 parcels, and 13,68o, 239 telegrams were received and despatched; the See also:revenue was £2,738,146 and the See also:expenditure £2,720,735.
New See also:Zealand.—In 1905 there were 1937 post offices open; 74,767,288 letters and cards, 47,334,263 See also:newspapers, book-packets and circulars, 392,017 parcels, and 5,640,219 telegrams were dealt with. The revenue from the post See also:office was £410,968, and from telegraphs £273,911, while the expenditure on the post office was £302,146 and on telegraphs £276,581.
Dominion of See also:Canada.—In 1905 there were 10,879 post offices open; 331,792,500 letters and cards, 60,405,000 newspapers, book-packets and circulars,' and 58,338 parcels were received and despatched. The revenue from the post office amounted to £1,053,548, and from telegraphs £28,727, while the expenditure was, on the post office £952,652 and on telegraphs £78,934.
Cape of See also:Good ITope.—The number of post offices open in 1905 was 1043; 7,596,600 letters and cards, 3,706,960 newspapers, book-packets and circulars, 536,800 parcels, and 6,045,228 telegrams were dealt with. The revenue from the post office was £423,056, and from telegraphs £206,842 the expenditure being, £456;171 on the post office and £272,863 on telegraphs.
British See also:India.—In 1905 there were 16,033 post offices open; 597,707,867 letters and cards, 76,671,197 newspapers, book-packets and circulars, 4,541,367 parcels, and 9,098,345 telegrams were dealt with. The revenue from the post office was £1,566,704 and from telegraphs £733,193, while the expenditure was, on the post office, £1,599,557 and on telegraphs £546,914.
See also:FRANCE
The See also:French postal See also:system was founded by See also: (1603, 1622, 1627 seq.).' In 1627 France originated a postal See also:money-transmission system, a system of cheap See also:registration for letters. The postmaster who thus anticipated See also:modern improvements was See also:Pierre d'Almeras, a See also:man of high See also:birth, who gave about £20,000 (of modern money) for the See also:privilege of serving the public. The turmoils of the See also:Fronde wrecked much that he had achieved. The first See also:farm of postal income was made in 1672, and by farmers it was administered until June 1790. To increase the income postmaster-See also:ships for a See also:long See also:time were not only sold but made hereditary. Many administrative improvements of detail were introduced, indeed, by See also:Mazarin (1643), by See also:Louvois (c. 168o seq.), and by See also:Cardinal de See also:Fleury (1728); but many formidable abuses also continued. The revolutionary See also:government transferred rather than removed them. Characteristically, it put a See also:board of post-masters in See also:room of a farming postmaster-See also:general and a See also:con-trolling one. See also:Napoleon (during the consulate') abolished the board, recommitted the business to a postmaster-general as it had been under Louis XIII., and greatly improved the details of the service; Napoleon's organization of 18o2 is, in substance, that which now obtains, although, of course, large modifications and developments have been made from time to time.' The university of See also:Paris, as early as the 13th See also:century, possessed a See also:special postal system, for the abolition of which in the 18th it received a large See also:compensation. But it continued to possess certain See also:minor postal privileges until the Revolution.' Mazarin's See also:edict of the 3rd of See also:December 1643 shows that France at that date had a See also:parcel post as well as a See also:letter post. That edict creates for each See also:head post office throughout the See also:kingdom three several See also:officers styled respectively (I) See also:comptroller, (2) weigher, (3) See also:assessor; and, instead of remunerating them by See also:salary, it directs the addition of one-See also:fourth to the existing letter See also:rate and parcel rate, and the See also:division of the surcharge between the three. Fleury's edicts of 1728 make sub-postmasters directly responsible for the loss of letters or parcels; they also make it necessary that senders should post their letters at an office, and not give them to the See also:carriers, and regulate the book-post by directing that book parcels (whether MS. or printed) shall be open at the ends.' Hi 1758, almost eighty years after Dockwra's See also:establishment of a See also:penny post in See also:London, an historian of that See also:city published an See also:account of it, which in Paris came under the See also:eye of See also:Claude Piarron de Chamousset,' who obtained letters-patent to do the like, and, before setting to See also:work or seeking profit for himself, issued a See also:tract with the See also:title, Memoire sur la petite-poste etablie d Londres, sur la modele de laouelle on pourrait en etablir de semblables clans See also:les plus grandes villes d'See also:Europe. The reform was successfully carried out. By this time the general post office of France was producing ' For the details, see Ency. Brit., 8th ed., xviii. 420-424, and Maxime Du See also:Camp, " L'See also:Administration See also:des Postes," in Revue des deux mondes (1865), 2nd See also:series, vol. lxvii. 169 seq. 2 28 Pluviose, an XII. =the 18th of See also:February 1804. 3 Le Quien de la Neufville, Usages des postes (1730), pp. 59-67, 8o, 121-123, 147–149, 286–291; Maxime du Camp, op. cit. passim; Pierre See also:Clement, Appreciation des consequences de la reforme postale, passim: Loret, See also:Gazette rimee (Aug. 16, 1653); Furetiere, Le See also:Roman See also:Bourgeois (in Du Camp, ut supra) ; " See also:Die ersten Posteinrichturlgen, u.s.w., " in L' See also:Union postale, viii. 138; Ordonnances des Rois de France, as cited by A. de See also:Rothschild, Histoire de In poste-auxlettres (3rd ed., 1876), i. 171, 216, 269. We quote M. de Rothschild's See also:clever book with some misgivings. It is eminently sparkling in See also:style, and most readable; but its citations are so given that one is constantly in doubt lest they be given at second or even at third See also:hand instead of from the See also:sources. The See also:essay of M. du Camp is, up to its date, far more trustworthy. He approaches his subject as a publicist, M. de Rothschild as a See also:stamp-See also:collector.
There are several charters confirmatory of this See also:original privilege. The earliest of these is of 1296 (See also: A century later they paid a fixed See also:rent of £352,000, and covenanted to pay in addition one-fifth of their See also:net profits. In 1788—the date of the last letting to farm of the postal revenue—the fixed and the variable payments were commuted for one settled sum of £480,000 a See also:year. The result of the devastations of the Revolution and of the See also:wars of the See also:empire together is shown strikingly by the fact that in 1814 the See also:gross income of the post office was but little more than three-fifths of the net income in 1788. Six years of the peaceful government of Louis XVIII. raised the gross See also:annual revenue to £928,000. On the See also:eve of the Revolution of 1836 it reached £1,348,000. Towards the See also:close of the next reign the post office yielded £2,100,000 (gross). Under the revolutionary government of 1848–1849 it declined again (falling in 185o to £1,744,000); under that of Napoleon III. it See also:rose steadily and uniformly with every year. In 1858 the gross revenue was £2,296,000, in 1868 £3,596,000. The ingenuity of the French postal authorities was severely tried by the exigencies of the See also:German See also:War of 1870-71. The first contrivance was to organize a See also:pigeon service (see pigeon and also PIGEON Posr), carrying microscopic despatches Bauoon prepared by the aid of photographic appliances.' The posts. number of postal pigeons employed was 363, of which number fifty-seven returned with despatches. During the height of the See also:siege the See also:English postal authorities received letters for transmission by pigeon post into Paris by way of See also:Tours, subject to the regulations that no See also:information concerning the war was given, that the number of words did not exceed twenty, that the letters were delivered open, and that 5d. a word, with a registration See also:fee of 6d.,8 was prepaid as See also:postage. At this rate the postage of the 200 letters on each See also:folio was £40, that on the eighteen pellicles of sixteen folios each, carried by one pigeon, £11,520. Each des-patch was repeated until its arrival had been acknowledged by See also:balloon post ; consequently many were sent off twenty and some even more than See also:thirty times. The second step was to establish a See also:regular system of postal balloons, fifty-one being employed for letter service and six for telegraphic service. To M. Durnouf belongs much of the See also:honour of making the balloon service successful. On the basis of experiments carried out by him a See also:decree of the 26th of See also:September 187o regulated the new postal system. Out of sixty-four several ascents, each costing on the See also:average about £200, fifty-seven achieved their purpose, notwithstanding the See also:building by See also:Krupp of twenty guns, supplied with telescopic apparatus, for the destruction of the postal balloons. Only five were captured, and two others were lost at See also:sea. The aggregate See also:weight of the letters and newspapers thus aerially mailed by the French post office amounted to about eight tons and a See also:half, including upwards of 3,000,000 letters; and, besides the aeronauts, ninety-one passengers were conveyed. The heroism displayed by the French balloon postmen was equalled by that of many of the See also:ordinary lettercarriers-in the See also:conveyance of letters through the catacombs and quarries of Paris and its suburbs, and, under various disguises, often through the midst of the Prussian See also:army. Several lost their lives in the See also:discharge of their See also:duty, in some cases saving their despatches by the See also:sacrifice.' During the war the See also:Marseilles route for the Anglo-See also:Indian mails was abandoned. They were sent through See also:Belgium and See also:Germany, by the See also:Brenner Pass to See also:Brindisi, and thence by See also:Italian packets to See also:Alexandria. The French route was resumed in 1872.10 7 The despatches carried by the pigeons were in the first instance photographed on a reduced See also:scale on thin sheets of See also:paper, the original See also:writing being preserved, but after the ascent of the twenty-fifth balloon leaving the city an improved system was organized. The communications, whether public despatches, newspapers or private letters, were printed in ordinary type, and micro-photographed on to thin films of See also:collodion. Each pellicle measured less than 2 in. by 1, and the See also:reproduction of sixteen folio pages of type contained above 3000 private letters. These pellicies were so See also:light that 50.000 despatches, weighing less than. I gramme, were regarded as the weight for one pigeon. In See also:order to ensure their safety during transit the films were rolled up tightly and placed in a small See also:quill which was attached longitudinally to one of the tail feathers of the See also:bird. On their arrival in Paris they were flattened out and thrown by means of the electric See also:lantern on to a See also:screen, copied by clerks, and despatched to their destination. This method was afterwards improved upon, sensitive paper being substituted for the screen, so that the letters were printed at once and distributed. 8 Seventeenth See also:Report of the Postmaster-General, p. 7. 8 Boissay, " La Poste et la telegraphie See also:pendant le siege de Paris," in Journal des economistes, 3rd series, vol. xxii. pp. 117–129 and pp. 273–282. Cf. Postal Gazette (1883), i. 7. 10 Sixteenth Report of the Postmaster-General, p. 8. II The See also:comparative postal See also:statistics for all France during the years 'goo and Igo5 stands thus: 1900. 1905. No. No. Letters 980,629,000 1,113,090,000 Post-cards . . . 62,591,000 450,889,000 Newspapers, printed See also:matter, 1,390,246,000 1,441,713,000 samples, circulars, &c. . Value of money French francs 1,422,736,000 1,834,360,000 orders Internatl. , 56,210,000 73,22 000 Value of postal orders „ 40,688,000 54,582,000 209,982,000 261,454,000 Receipts 1 8,399,000 10,458,000 The savings See also:banks system of France, so far as it is connected with the postal service, See also:dates only from 1875, and began then (at first) simply by the use of post offices as agencies and feeders for the pre-existing banks. See also:Prior to the postal connexion the aggregate of the deposits stood at £22,920,000. In 1877 it reached (32,000,000. Postal savings banks, strictly so called, began only during the year 188,. At the close of 1882 they had 210,712 depositors, with an aggregate See also:deposit of £1,872,938 See also:sterling; in 1905 they had 12,134,523 depositors, with an aggregate deposit of £229,094,155. The union of the See also:telegraph with the post office dates only from 1878. The following table gives the figures for 1900 and 'See also:gas: 1900. 1905. i kilometres 117,559 129,826 Length of See also:line . 73,004 80,622 ( See also:miles . . Length of See also:wire kilometres 388,814 418,331 miles 241,453 259,784 See also:Total gross receipts francs . . 43,977,000 46,490,000 £ 1,759,000 1,860,000 Number of messages forwarded: 36,723,000 39,433,000 See also:Home service See also:International 3,374,000 3,686,000 Amount of International tele- 6,145,455 10,239,546 graphic money orders: From See also:foreign countries to France . . (Total francs) From France to foreign 6,124,913 4,754,960 countries . . (Total francs) postal telephonic system began in 1879. The following table gives the figures for 190' and 1905: 1901. 1905. Length of line e kilometres 3°,142 46,992 miles 18,718 29,182 Length of wire kilometres 453,287 498,389 miles . 281,491 309,500 Messages 175,340,000 232,727,645 Receipts francs . . 17,518,000 23,495,000 £ 701,000 940,000 zux-lettres (1875); Entwickelung des Post- u. Telegraphenwesens in Frankreich,” in -Archie f. Post. u. Telegraphic (1882); " Die franzosischen Postsparkassen,” and other articles, in L' Union postale (Berne). See also:AUSTRIA-See also:HUNGARY The See also:Austrian postal system is among the See also:oldest on See also:record. See also:Vienna possessed a See also:local letter post and a parcel post, on the See also:plan of prepayment, as early as May 1772, at which date no city in Germany possessed the like. This local post was established by a Frenchman (M. See also:Hardy) and managed by a Dutch-man (Schooten).1 Thirteen years after its organization it became merged in the imperial post. The See also:separate postal organizations of the empire (Austria) and of the kingdom (Hungary) date from 1867. In Austria the post office and the telegraph office are 1 Loeper, " Organisation des postes de ville," in L' Union postale vii. I seq.placed under the See also:control of the See also:minister of See also:commerce, in Hungary under that of the minister of public See also:works. The following table gives the figures for 'goo and 1go4: Austria. . 1904. 1900. Post offices . . . No. 6,895 8,327 Letters and post-cards . . „ 1,193,418,000 1,421,107,000 Newspapers 116,000,000 144,986,000 Packet post : 37,521,000 44,624,000 Ordinary packets kilogs. Registered packets kronen 8,043,570,000 8,323,179,000 and letters . £ . 335,148,000 346,799,000 Receipts kronen 107,718,000 123,919,000 £ • 4,488,000 5,163,000 Expenses kronen 98,412,000 121,749,000 £ 4,100,000 5,073,000 1900. 1904. Post offices . . No. 4,923 5,097 Letters, newspapers, &c. 487,670,000 584,081,000 Packet post : 17,730,000 21,367,000 Ordinary packets „ Packets with de- ( korona 6,256,900,000 4,936,403,000 Glared value and 260,704,000 205,683,000 money letters - £ ' Reimbursements and korona 1,095,591,000 1,253,440,000 money orders . £ . . 45,649,000 52,226,000 S Postal orders korona 27,470,000 30,397,000 k 1,145,000 1,266,000 Receipts . orona 47,103,000 57,067,000 1,962,000 2,378,000 Expenses korona 39,912,000 44,560,000 1,663,000 1,857,000 GERMAN EMPIRE The Prussian postal system See also:developed mainly by the ability and See also:energy of Dr See also:Stephan, to whom the organization of the International Postal Union2 was so Iargely indebted, into the admirably organized post and telegraph office of the empire—began with the See also:Great Elector, and with the establishment in 1646 of a Government post from See also:Cleves to See also:Memel. See also:Frederick II. largely extended it, and by his successor the See also:laws See also:relating to it were consolidated. In Strasburg a messenger See also:code existed as early as 1443. A postal service was organized at See also:Nuremberg in 1570. In 18o3 the rights in the See also:indemnity-lands (Entschddigungslander) of the See also:counts of Taxis as hereditary imperial postmasters were abolished. The first See also:mail See also:steam-packet was built in 1821; the first transmission of mails by railway was in 1847; the beginning of the postal administration of the telegraphs was in 1849; and, by the treaty of postal union with Austria, not only was the basis of the existing system of the posts and telegraphs of Germany fully laid, but the germ was virtually set of the International Postal Union. That treaty was made for ten years on the 6th of See also:April 185o, and was immediately accepted by See also:Bavaria. It came into full operation on the 1st of July following, and then included See also:Saxony, See also:Mecklenburg-See also:Strelitz and See also:Holstein. Other German states followed; and the treaty was renewed in See also:August 186o. The following table gives figures for 'goo and 1905: 1900. 1905. Post offices No. 32,135 33,105 Letters received „ 2,893,555,000 3,855,369,000 Letters and parcels 10,508,000 10,518,000 received (value declared) moo marks 15,984,425 16,215,800 Parcels received (value not 153+985+000 186,038,000 declared) No Postal orders re- 126,217,209 162,800,261 ceived . See also:I000 marks 7,868,860 9,807,934 2 The International Postal Union was founded at Berne in 1874. All the countries of the See also:world belong to it, with the exception of See also:Afghanistan, See also:Baluchistan, See also:China, See also:Abyssinia and See also:Morocco. Congresses have been held at Paris (1878), See also:Lisbon (1885), Vienna (1891), See also:Washington (1897) and See also:Rome (1906). Telegraphs.' 1900. 1905. Length of line ss kilometres 108,500 I17,738 miles . . 67,378 73,115 of which under- kilometres 10,969 ' 1,460 ground . t miles 6,812 7,117 Length of wire kilometres 424,500 469,801 miles . . 263,614 291,746 of which under-.t kilometres 49,934 52,014 ground . t miles 31,009 32,301 Number of offices open to the 20,768 26,912 public . . . . Receipts Marks . 33,065,590 39,592,009 1,625,724 1,946,607 Number of messages: 28,643,849 30,275,833 Home service .. . International 12,356,840 15,300,309 ' Exclusive of Wurttemburg and Bavaria. Telephones. 1901. 1905. Length of line . . .miles 59,460 85,450 Length of wire . „ 731,174 1,672,415 Number of messages . . 766,226,337 1,207,400,000 See also:ITALY The origin of the Italian post office may be traced virtually to See also:Venice and to the establishment of the " Corrieri di Venezia " early in the 16th century. As early as 1818 the Sardinian post office issued stamped letter-paper. The total number of letters, newspapers and book-packets conveyed in 1862 was but 111,733,319. In 1900 there were 7234 post offices; letters conveyed amounted to 180,349,449, post. cards 82,544,547, news-papers, &c., 301,495,580, samples 9,117,526, See also:official letters, franked, 46,302,121, postal packets 8,170,988, and registered letters of a declared value of £12,931,026. The receipts amounted to 2,429,000 and the expenses to £1,980,000. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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