NOTES AND MEMORANDA 827 amounts to 4'82 (obviously not as shown by a printer's error to 8'2) per cent. No fewer than 765? millions of letters, &c., were delivered in London alone. It is not stated how many of these were also posted in London. a fact of grave bearing upon the arguments for and against a Halfl?nny Metropolitan post. About 64,000 persons are now permanently employed in the Post Office, 54,000 others are more or less fully engaged. The ?ostmaster General is thus the largest employer of labour in the United Kingdom, and the effect which he exercises upon the labour market of the country does not diminish the difficulty and delicacy of his position. During the year under review the new express delivery was inaugurated, but we have as yet no official statistics of its success. The Parcel Post, again shows the unpleasant feature of half a million paid to the railways out of a little more than a million of gross receipts. There are attempts to circumvent th'is bad bargain: several additional Parcel coaches, it ?is stated, now run by road. Mr. Goschen's reduction of colonial postage from 4d., 5d., and 6d. to 2.?d. is the main cheapening of rates effected dm'ing the year. The estimated loss this year from the change is 100,000, and the experience of the few months which have ah-eady elapsed shows tht?t the estimate was pretty exact. The postal surplus is shown as ,3,16?,000 or t244,500 less than in 1889-90. The telegr&phs show a deficit of 198,000. The reduction of interest on capital, due to the conversion of government stock, m?kes this loss 27,200 less than it would otherwise have been. Apart from interest charges the telegraphic receipts exceed the expenditure by 101,000. Telegrams increased only 6'5 per cent. as compared xvith 8'5 in the preceding year. Already the telephone begins to tell as a rival in large towns. Railway Companies o.f the United Kingdom. General Report to the Board of Trade in regard to the Share and Loan Capital, Tra. ffic in Passengers and Goods, and the Working Expendi- ture and Net Profits from ttaihcag Working of the ttaihcay Companies of the United Kingdom for the year 1890 (C--6459). Ti? report states that from the point of view of the railway share- holder, [he results shown by the r?ilway returns of 1890 do not indicate such a prosperous state of affairs as those repor[ed upon in the previous year; but at the satne time they do show that the im- provement of trade and industry referred to in th? report was fairly n?aintained in 1890. If the shareholders' dividends have not been maintained at the level of those for 1889, i[ has not been on account of auy decrease 'in work done and money earlted. was a very satisfactory increase in both traffic expenses of working have also increased, and portion. This has been due to two causes, which helped to swell the On the contrary, there and revenue;but the in much greater pro-
