Letter to “London Standard”, To the Editor of the Standard, Dec 16th 1834

"Sir, - I live at this place, and although I am three miles nearer London than Kettering, I am eight hours later in getting my letters, and a letter from me is twenty-four hours later in reaching London, than from persons residing in Kettering; and for the delay I have an extra penny to pay for every letter I receive or send. This, surely is a very bad arrangement, when the mail passes through this village, containing at least one thousand persons, both going to Leeds and returning from it. If the village is too small to justify a regular post office establishment being kept up, would it not be advantageous to allow an extra penny for every letter to be paid to the individual who now receives them and sends them to Kettering by a runner in the evening, and let a bag in London be made up for this place, and dropt by the mail in passing through northward, and made up for London and taken up by the mail in passing through southward? The mail to Leeds passed through at five o’clock in the morning, and from Leeds at twelve, or half-past twelve at noon. The convenience of this arrangement would be that letters received in this neighbourhood from London could be answered the same day. As an instance of the inconvenience attending the present plan, the mail to London will pass through here two hours after this letter is written, and yet you will not receive it till the day after tomorrow. The Post office is so ably conducted, that I feel satisfied so no unnecessary a delay in our communications with the metropolis requires only to be represented to be removed, as it can be so, as far as I can see without any extra expense. If I am to pay an extra penny, it is better for me to do that to support a Post-office in the village than to pay a runner to a distant place, causing so serious a delay in the receipt and dispatch of my letters. I should think that every person in the neighbourhood must agree with me in such an opinion.

Your inserting this will probably draw the attention of the Postmaster General to the subject"