Page:Item 5 1853.pdf/64

The foregoing humorous letter to the News from someone at St. Leonards and a seriously worded one from Hastings to that same journal were evidently written on the rumour that although the Postmaster-General declined to abolish the St. Leonards post-office, he, nevertheless, intended to place the disputed territory in the Hastings postal district. Such rumour had no foundation in fact; for notwithstanding that the Chief of the Post-office department was besieged with petitions and deputations, he never once moved from his determination to adhere to existing arrangements as connected with St. Leonards. Lord Canning was Postmaster-General, and in the next chapter it will be seen that although he consented to the removal of the Hastings post-office to a position further west, he, in conformity with the petition of the inhabitants both east and west of the Archway, decided to maintain the St. Leonards postal boundary at Verulam place. In the next chapter it will be shown how the postal question was discussed at Hastings. After that, the contention having ceased, slumbered or become languid, to be ultimately renewed with greater vigour, its further consideration is relegated to future chapters.