There has been a great outcry against the post-office as well as the
police in Gangetic India. Newspapers are charged by weight, so that
before they can pass for single postage they must make use of the
smallest-sized sheet to be found in the meanest provincial town in
England; the paper must be as thin as a bank-note. In our rainy season,
if near full weight, it absorbs moisture so rapidly as to be charged
double postage at its journey's end: the postage on a daily paper,
from moderate distances, amounts to L.5 a year. The mails are carried
in leathern bags on men's heads, and so negligently made up, that they
occasionally reach their destination in a state of pulp. Thousands
of rupees are annually abstracted from letters, and every variety of
misconduct prevails. At the presidencies, the salary of the postmasters
is from L.2000 to L.3000--the heads of the departments are civilians,
who have been judges or collectors of revenue, and never saw the inside
of a post-office till they came to preside over it. At out-stations,
officers in the army get postmasterships as perquisites, the duties
in every case being performed by subordinates. The subject has been a
standing grievance time out of mind, but there is not the slightest
appearance of its meeting with attention.--_Bombay Times._