o f f i c e - ] on FEES, GRATUITIES, & c/ to in making the additions to the buildings cf the General Pr. fi- Offi^ • • t, " underftood are in contemplation ; and alfof that whiS^^^ tTm^ VT6? the, feVmI 0ff; ces — commodious ami coru be avoided ? ' whatever 1S % erfluous and unnecelfary will 34-' An expence amounting to £. 9,293. 5. of. has been incurred in the laft four A XT years for furvey mg and laying out new lines of Poft- roads from which little ad PP N°' vantage has as yet accrued to the Public, only a fmali portion of the propofed Aon^ i, at improvements having been carried into effect. By the law, as it firft B t P? ' ' 44< feems to have been compulfatory on the Grand Juries ef counties, to prefent under certain regulations ttie Lines of Roads furveyed by direction of the Poft. mafters General; but as by a fubfequent Ad, it is left to their difcretion to adopt them or not, we recommend thai the Poftmafters General fhould not in future caufe any furveys to be made under the Poft- road Ads, without the concurrence of the Grand Jury of the county through which the propofed Road is intended to run. \\ e are alfo of opinion, that the office of Infpeftor of Surveys, to which an annual falary of £. 568. 15. is attached, and the utility of which at any time we think very quefhonable, fhould be abolifhed. The fums paid under the head of Law Expences, appear to have amounted on Appendix, NO. 34. an average of four years ending 5th January 1809, to £. 3,834. 6. 9. Exclufive of thefe payments, a falary of £. 100. is charged on the Eftablifhment for the Solicitor, in confideration of which, he ftates it to be his duty to write to fuch De- Appendix, NO. 45. puties and Letter Carriers as are returned to him by the Secretary in arrear, to report on all matters referred to him, to attend at the General Poft Office when required, and prepare the bonds of the different perfons employed in the depart ment; For all other fervices performed by him, he furnifhes bills of Cofts. The Solicitor estimates the profits of his office to amount to from 12 to/*. 1,500. a year, being at the latter rate equal to about two- fifths of the annual amount of the law charges on the average above- mentioned, and one- half of the falary annexed to the Office of Poft- mafter General. He informs us, that on his firft coming into office, it was the practice of the Solicitor to commence, at his own difcretion, fuch criminal proceedings for offences affeCting the Poft Office department as he might think neceffiiry, but that about five years fince, the Secretary defired that no ex- pence ffiould be incurred under that head without his previous directions. This order however does not feem to have been ftriCtly complied with, as the Solicitor undertakes, without any fuch authority, to trace from one perfon to another in the city of Dublin, the transfer of property that had been either embezzled in the Poft Office, or of which the Mails had been robbed, with the view of ultimately detecting the offender, frequently making heavy charges for his perfonal fervice on fuch occafions. In fome cafes alfo there is reafon to believe, from the entries in his bills of cofts, that he affumes the liberty of going on Poft Office bufinefs out of Dublin, without having received any direction for that purpofe, a praCtice that, if it has prevailed, ought to be discontinued ; nor does it feem to be neceffary to difpatch him into the country, as has often happened on the occurrence of mail robberies, the particulars of which might for the moft part be as effectually en- quired into, and at a much lefs expence to the Public, by fome perfon on the fpot, or by one of the Riding Surveyors; and on one occafion we © bferve, than an ex- pence of £. 79. was molt inconfiderately incurred by fending him from Dublin for the purpofe of conveying a prifoner from one provinc al town to another. This APPEND;*, NO. 45. Officer furnifhes bills of colts, and receives the amour t due upon them quarterly, befides which he has an unfettled demand againft the Poft Office for a fum of about /. 300. on account of cofts incurred in fuing for ariears that were infolvent, and has recently furniffied the Poftmatfer General with a bill of eofts to the amount of /. 1,2 to. 1. 3 j. for his fervices in inveftigating the ftate of the fecurities of the feveral Deputy Poftmafters. This latter bufmefs was undertaken in confequence Appendix. No. of an order of the Board of Treafury in the month of May 1 806, direfting that an exaCt enquiry ffiould be made into their fufficiency, and in the profecution of it a moft unneceffary expence appears to have been incurred, for though the fum for which each furety of any Deputy was bound, did not, except in fome few inftances, exceed 200. we find regular fearches inftituted in the Law Courts and in the Rep- iftry Office, to afcertain the folvency to this amount, of fuch men as Lord Shannon Lord O'Neil, Mr. Luke White, and many others of the moft confider- able landed proprietors of this country. It is true, that the terms m which the directions from the Treafury are exprefled, may, if taken literally, afford a pretext