, Exchequer Bonds, and War Savings Certificates. Apart from the
telegraphs, telephones, and Savings Bank, however, these services form
only a small part of the work of the Post Office. While the total cost
of the ordinary postal services (i.e. excluding telegraphs, telephones,
and Savings Bank) was in 1913-14 some [L]17,000,000, the cost of the
subsidiary services was only about a million.

The staff of officers has increased as follows:--

--------------+---------+---------+-----------
Year. | Male. | Female. | Total.
--------------+---------+---------+-----------
1880-1 | | | 80,000
1890-1 | 93,046 | 24,943 | 117,989
1900-1 | 137,807 | 35,377 | 173,184
1905-6 | 154,351 | 41,081 | 195,432
1910-11 | 166,073 | 46,741 | 212,814
1913-14 | 188,794 | 60,659 | 249,453[93]
--------------+---------+---------+-----------

Concurrently with the increase of the number of officers, the rate of
wages has been revised on several occasions, as the result of the
recommendations of Parliamentary and other Committees appointed to
consider the question of Post Office wages. The cost of the increases of
wages which have been granted as the result of these revisions,
calculated on the basis of the staff at the dates of the respective
revisions, without allowance for subsequent growth of force, is some
[L]3,674,950 per annum.[94] The increase of the number of officers has, of
course, increased the ultimate cost of each successive improvement in
pay and conditions of service.

The increased wages of the staff have naturally counterbalanced to some
extent the economies resulting from the large increase of business.
Since the first of these revisions, the Fawcett of 1881-2, the wages of
the staff have absorbed a larger percentage of the total revenue of the
postal services,[95] and the cost for staff per packet handled has
increased from .288d. in 1880-1 to .329d. in 1890-1, and .418d. in
1913-14.[96] During the same period the cost of conveyance of postal
packets has decreased from .131d. per packet other than a parcel in
1880-1, to .119d. in 1890-1, and .080d. in 1913-14.[97] The total cost
of dealing with a postal packet other than a parcel has in recent years
shown a small decrease. The cost in 1913-14 has been estimated at
.520d.[98]

The gross revenue of the postal services, i.e. excluding telegraphs and
telephones, has increased from