,( A.) 6. 7. 8J Commiffioners on FEES, G R A T U I T I E S , 5cc. ( A.) No. 6. To his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland. May it please Your Excellency, HAVING received a Letter from Alexander Marfden, Efq. by command of your Excellency, suggesting a mode by which your Excellency conceived the Clerks of the Roads mieht be • compensated for the losses they have fuftained by the decreafed circulation of lrifli News- papers, we immediately communicated the fame to thofe Gentlemen, and they have in confequence addrelled the Letter to our Secretary, which we herewith tranfmit, and by which jour Excellency will perceive that they are perfe& ly fatisfied with the quantum of compen- lation as well as with the mode of receiving it; and we have only further to trouble your Excellency lor fuch directions as may authorize us to carrv your Excellency's suggestion into effedt. \ Ve have, & c. ( Signed) ELY. 14th April 1802. DROGHEDA. ( A.) No. 7, My Lords, Dublin Castle, 3d May 1802. THE Lord Lieutenant has received your reprefentation of the 14th ultimo, relative to the mode propoled by my Letter of the 11 th of April, for compensating the Clerks of the Roads for the loffes they have fuftained by the decreafed circulation of Irish Newspapers, and fignifying that the quantum of compenfation propofed, as well as the mode of receiving it, is perfectly fatisfa& ory ; and in coniequence thereof I am commanded by his Excellency, to fignify to you his delire that you will take the necessary measures for carrying the mode of - compenfation into effect, according to the terms of my faid Letter of the 11th of April. I have the honour, $ tc. Right Honourable ( Signed) A. Marsden. The Postmasters General. ( A.) No. 8. Mr. LEES's Report to the Poftmafters General, as affe& ing the Conduct of the Clerks of the Roads. My Lords, General Poft Office, 5th Oftober 1809. IT having l'uggefted itfelf to me upon a Tecent occalion, to examine with more attention •• than has hitherto been conceived neceffary, the Returns furnifhed by the different Clerks of Roads, of the amount of their profits arifing from the circulation of Newspapers through their ref'pedtive diltri& s. I beg leave to inform 3' our Lordfhips, that I have for fome • time paft been occupied in inveftigating the fubjeCt; and during the progrefs of my en- quiry, fuch circumftances have occurred, and fuch dilcoveries have been effected, that I feel myfelf imperatively called upon by every tenfe of public duty to fubmit to you the refult, and to folicit your Lordships serious attention thereto. In reporting to your Lordships the fa< 5ts, it is not neceffary to ftate to you the nature of the privileges exercised by the Clerks of Roads, or the proportion the circulation of Papers, and consequently the profits bear to each other ; with the one your Lordfhips are already sufficiently acquainted, and as to the other, much more conclufive evidence can be adduced to prove the exact annual value of each Road to its poffeffor. Immediately subsequent to the Union, the Clerks of the Roads, in a Memorial to the Poftmafters General, represented that in confepuence of the operation of that meafure, the number of Newspapers circulated under their privileges had experienced fuch diminution, and was fo likely still to be decreafed, that their incomes had not only been already much deteriorated, but would probably experience a l'peedy and total extin& ion. In confequence of this Memorial, the Postmaster General ftated the matter in fuch a point of view to the Lord Lieutenant, that his Excellency, in a Letter dated 12th April 1802, directed towards establishing a compensation for their supposed losses to a certain annual amount, which was represented to his Excellency as the average profits yearly derived to them, that a certain average fhould be formed, from which could be deduced the annual circulation of the Papers and the profits arifing from their sale, and this being afcertained, was admitted by Government, and by its order the Post Office Revenue was made fecurity to guarantee to each Clerk, in the event of the greater reduction in the circulation, the income which was thus recognized as the fair and juit value of each Road to its possessor.