56 ( Ireland)- Ninth REPORT OF THE' COMMISSIONERS [ Poll- it is neceffary to obferve, that it appears by the above Account, to be much greater in amount than it ought to be, owing to an Alteration then firft introduced into the mode of making up the general Accounts. Formerly the Treafurer, as has been already ftated, claimed credit in his quarterly Accounts for the incidental ex- pences, according to their eftimated amount incurred within the quarter, though they were not actually paid until the fucceeding quarter ; but in auditing the Poft Office Accounts, the Commiffioners of Impreft Accounts having difallowed all credits, where the payments were not fhewn to have been made within the period in which the credit was claimed, it became neceffary for the Accountant General and the Treafurer to frame their Accounts accordingly ; therefore, as the latter ftill has continued to pay the principal part of the incidental expences of the pre- ceding quarter in the fucceeding, the amount of the incidental payments credited in the firft quarterly Account of the laft year, are very inconfiderable, while in- cidental expences incurred in the laft quarter of the year, to the amount of £. 9,775. 15.7^., are not included in the year's Account, by which the expence for management in the year ending 5th January 1809, appears to be fo much lefs, and the net produce of the Revenue fo much more than they would have been, had the Accounts been framed as formerly. Befides the increafed produce of the Poft Office Revenue on a general view, that portion which arifes from the crofs- road Letters, has been more than doubled in the courfe of the laft nine years, Appendix, No. 2,5. its amount appearing to have been in the year ending 5th January 1801, £ 12,049.4. 3. and in the year ending 5th January 1809, £ 30,146. 9. 5. With- in the fame period likewife, the number of Poft- towns with daily Pofts have been Appendix, No. 26. increafed from 120 to 223, and the total number of Poft- towns from 276 to 325. The number of Mail Coaches has alfo been gradually increafing. This mode of conveying the Mails was not introduced into Ireland until the year 1788, when two Coaches were eftablifhed for that purpofe, one to run from Dublin to Cork, the other from Dublin to Belfaft ; at prefent eight Mail Coaches are difpatched every night from the General Poft Office, befides which feveral crofs road Coaches have been eftablifhed. Notwithftanding the confiderable Expence of the Mail Coach Eftablifhment, the advantage to the Public from the fafe and expeditious conveyance of the Mails is fo great, and the policy of facilitating the intercourfe between diftant and remote parts of a manufacturing and commercial Country fo obvious, that while all due means fhould be taken to economize this branch of expenditure, its magnitude ought not we think to prove any obftruCtion to the extenfion of the fyftem wherever it is practicable: on the expiration however of the prefent con- tracts, the Poftmafters General ought to endeavour to reduce the rate per mile paid to the Contractors, for the direCt lines between Dublin and the principal commercial towns, to many of which Stage Coaches at prefent run, and are main- tained without poffeffing an exemption from Turnpike, or any of the other advan- tages enjoyed by the Mail Coach Contractors ; the fecond Mail Guard may alfo we truft, be in general difpenfed with. Appendix No. 2) With refpect to the Penny Poft Office, the Revenue derived from it is far from being fo productive as it might be rendered, if placed under a better fyftem of management than it is at prefent; hitherto, from the want principally of a fuf- ficient number of Receiving Houfes, and of deliveries both in town and country, the inhabitants of Dublin and its vicinity have not known the great convenience fuch an eftablifhment is calculated to afford to a populous and extenfive city, and to the diftriCts by which it is immediately furrounded. Some years fince, the im- provement of this department was under confideration, but nothing was then effected ; we truft, however, that the defeCts we have thus noticed will be remedied without further delay. The expence of collecting and managing the duties of Poftage, is neceffarily much greater in proportion to their produce than that of collecting and managing any other branch of the public income ; the objeCt of the Eftablifhment being not fo much the amount of the Revenue to be derived from it, as to provide for public convenience, and to facilitate general correfpondence. From what has been already ftated, it appears that the aCtual expence incurred on this account in the laft year, including the fum of £ 9,775. 15. 71. which was not paid until after its clofe, amounted to £ 91,287. 17. 75. exceeding that of the preceding year by the fum of £ 17,566. 1. xo. In proportion as correfpondence becomes more general and more diffufed, the expence incident to the management of this de partmen