480 20,386 25,649

[253] In a number of cases the deliverer was provided with a vehicle for
the sake of speed, and worked out from the railway. In 1898 there were
2,365 such services.--_Handw[:o]rterbuch der Staatswissenschaft_, Jena,
1901, p. 137.

[254] "There was a profession of 'news writers,' or correspondents, who
collected such scraps of information as they could from various sources,
and for a subscription of three or four pounds per annum sent them every
post-day to their employers in the country."--A. Andrews, _The History
of British Journalism_, London, 1859, vol. i. p. 14.

[255] E.g., "To Mr. Neale, Deale, 27 Nov. 1674.

" ... You should give me a Constant Accompt (as m^r Lodge was wont to
doe) of all Newes that happens in your Parts. It is Expected from me at
Whitehall, and much wondered at, y^t my officers doe not give me y^e
first, and best Accompt of all that Passes, all Newes, Comeing
(Probably) first to theire hands. I Pray be Carefull, and punctuall
herein hereafter. I shall be ready, in all things (as I have bin) to
shew myself

Y^rs, &c."

--Documents from Peover Hall, _British Official Records_.

"The Post Office Packets in those days were carriers of news as well as
of the mails. The officers had instructions to record most carefully in
their journals full details of any events of public importance occurring
in the countries which they visited. These journals, which frequently
contained news later and more authentic than any which had yet reached
London, were sent up from Falmouth immediately after the arrival of the
Packets, and lay at the Post Office open to the inspection of the
merchants."--A. H. Norway, _History of the Post Office Packet Service_,
London, 1895, p. 37.

"An old instruction was renewed in 1812, that all postmasters should
transmit to me (the Secretary), for the information of his Majesty's
Postmaster-General, an immediate account of all remarkable occurrences
within their districts, that the same may be communicated, if necessary,
to his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State. This has not been
invariably attended to, and I am commanded by his Lordship to say, that
henceforward it will be expected of every Deputy."--Cited (without
giving source) by J. W. Hyde, _A Hundred Years by Post_, London, 1891,
p. 91.

"The mail-coach it was that distributed over the face of the land, like
the opening of apocalyptic vials, the heartshaking news of Trafalgar, of
Salamanc