ycle, or motor-cycle.

The vans, carts, or cycles of course convey the bags from office to
office, but when the bags are sent by railway it is necessary to provide
for their conveyance to and from the railway stations. This is largely
done by mail-van, mail-cart, or carrier-tricycle; but in a great number
of cases throughout the country, where only two or three small bags are
concerned, their conveyance between the station and the post office is
provided for by cycle postman or "runner" service; that is to say, the
bags are fetched or taken by a postman or porter.

COST

In order to ascertain the cost of dealing with postal packets of the
various classes, the relative cost, and the actual cost, of the various
operations must be ascertained, and all general charges apportioned.

The cost of the "postal" service, shown in Table B,[619] i.e. the cost
of the whole of the services controlled by the Post Office, less the
cost of the telegraphs and telephones, may be grouped, as shown in Table
C, under the following main headings:--

(1) Cost of Staff,
(2) Cost of Conveyance of Mails,
(3) Cost of Buildings,
(4) Cost of Stores, and Miscellaneous Expenditure.

STAFF

Since parcels are, to a considerable extent, dealt with separately, it
has been possible to estimate the relative cost of the manipulative
services in regard to parcels on the one hand, and all other postal
packets (letters, postcards, halfpenny packets, and newspapers) on the
other. The ratios of cost are shown in Table D, and the total cost of
the manipulative services in respect of parcels calculated on this basis
is shown in Table F.

No similar ratios of relative cost have been estimated in regard to the
various classes of packets other than parcels, since they are dealt with
together, and it is necessary, therefore, to ascertain the actual cost
for staff under the various headings of collection, stamping, sorting,
and delivery. As regards collection, it is difficult to discover a basis
on which a computation of the relative cost for the different classes of
packets may be made, because the cost varies greatly, not only as
between each class, but from place to place, in regard to any particular
class of packet. Many of the ordinary letter packets are posted in large
numbers at head post offices, and in respect of packets so posted there
is no cost of collection. Light letter packets and halfpenny packets
(especially halfpenny packets) are