6th Feb. We have always considered it a mistake that the community did not assist Sir Robert Hart in his endeavours to winter service between Shanghai and the north is conducted, should by this time have impressed even the conservatism of Shanghai with the reliability of the customs post. Presuming that sooner or later the scheme will be brought forward again, and carried out, it is interesting to consider what the Indian government has done, in the way of postal facilities, for India. It is sometimes hinted that the Indian government exists for the benefit of England, and to provide careers and salaries for superfluous Englishmen, whom their native country is too small to support. Even a brief account of the postal charges and facilities in India will show that in this direction at least the government has devoted itself to the well-being of the people; it has made the charges " so liberal," says the Financial Reformer, "that they seem intended to make the institution a political educator, as well as the common carrier for trade and for social intercourse. In this respect it might well put to shame the post office at home." It might be thought that, considering how foud the Indian vernacular press is of abusing the administration, the government would be more disposed than not to put obstacles in the way of its circulation, but as we shall see later on, the exact opposite is the case. Our Continental and American critics who write sometimes of the British oppression of the poor Indians may well make a note of this. We should mention that the authority from which we quote takes its facts from a recent issue of the Calcutta Review.
Before 1837 there was no general st office in India, The East India company had its daks, by which letters might be sent, the rate for a single letter between Calcutta and Bombay, for instance, being one rupee. In 1854 a single postmaster, stamps, and a uniform tariff were introduced, and the amount of correspondence carried increased by leaps and bounds. In 1873 the rate for a single letter made half an anna, or a halfpenny; in 1879 the post card was introduced, the cost being one farthing, the lowest rate in the world. In 1858 there were 810 post offices and 37,000 miles of roads; there are now 9,000 post offices, 103,000 miles of roads and 11,000 letter-boxes, and 270 millions of packets are posted in a year.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.