corresponding proportion was only 79'4 %, a figure that has been rising steadily
ever since. Of the posting-stations fixed by contract, 1 1 7 9 , or 85'7 % of them,
received a grant (see above). On the whole, these figures too, are on
the increase. The total amount of these grants during the period 1881—85
came to about 450 000 kronor; between 1886—90, to about 410 000 kronor;
1891—95, to about 870 000 kronor; between 1896—1900, to about 360 000
kronor and, during the period 1901—05, to about 400 000 kronor annually. —
The maximum posting-charges are: in the Län of Göteborg och Bohus, 2’80 kronor
per 10 kilometers; in the Läns of Södermanland and Kalmar, 2’so kronor;
in four Läns, 2'oo kronor; in two Läns, 1'90 kronor, in two Läns, 1'80 kronor,
and in the other Läns, either Tio or 1’60 kronor. In the case of non-contracted
postal-stations, the posting-charges were, as a rule, l'i s kronor per 10 kilometers.
The average charge for all the posting-stations in the kingdom was 1'75 kronor
per 10 kilometers. — Of the 1 512 posting-stations, 885 were country inns. ■—
Of all the posting-stations existing in 1905, there were 92 in the towns and
1 4 6 0 in the country districts; of the last-mentioned stations, 861 “were situated
on high-roads and 599 on village-roads.
4. POST SERVICE.
In Sweden, as in other cultured states, the origin of the postal service
is to be found in the desire of the Government to have its important
business and commands sent throughout the country by means of
specially appointed letter-carriers. During the reigns of the first Vasa
kings, various edicts were issued dealing with such matters. Tor example,
a proclamation of the year 1556 ordains that free posting shall be granted
to all those persons who were occupied on the business of King and country,
and in 1563 an order was issued that, for the conveyance of the King’s
letter-carriers, there should be employed so-called “utgard-”, or military-
service horses, i. e., such horses as, in times of'war, were to be provided as
an equivalent for a fully equipped soldier. These and similar regulations
were intended for the more dr less occasional conveyance of the Government
post, and the letter-carriers in question might not, as a rule, Hie
employed by private individuals. In 1620 was established on behalf of
the King’s governors “ a certain ordinary post” for the conveyance of
letters between the governors’ residences and the Court. For this purpose
were to be employed suitable young farmhands who were to enjoy a fixed
wage, clothes, and free victuals, the latter to be provided by the King’s
subjects. In order to establish identity, each such carrier was provided
with a kind of serviee-badge, the so-called post-arms, an arrangement which
had, however, been in use as early as the 16th century. From 1620, the
year mentioned above, we find the first mention of a post which could be
employed by the general public on payment of a special fee. This post, which
was intended for the conveyance of letters to and from abroad, ran from
Stockholm—Markaryd (on the borders of Halland, which then belonged
to Denmark) — Halsingor to Hamburg and was conveyed by a mounted
messenger. But it can by no means be said that there hade been created
an official Swedish postal service with the establishment of this post.
Such a service was not established until Axel Oxenstierna, the Swedish
Chancellor some few years later, who was greatly interested in the matter,
took the business in hand and, after various difficulties had been overcome,
succeeded in getting the Regency acting for Queen Christina to issue on
February 20, 1636, an edict respecting “Post-Badhen” (Post-service),
whereby certain farms adjacent to the public highways, in consideration
of being relieved from a number of public burdens, and, at a later date,
also of receiving a certain fee from the postal revenues, were assigned the
task of attending to the conveyance of the public post.
At a distance of every two or three Swedish miles there was thus appointed
a “post-farmer” who was obliged for this service to have two post-boys, and who,
either personally or by means of these latter servants, had to convey the post to
the next post-farmer. During the first few years of this public postal-service, foot-
messengers exclusively were employed. As early as 1645, however, mounted
messengers are mentioned, the mail-cart service coming" into use later on. The
post was conveyed once a week between Stockholm and the southern, western,
and: northern parts of the country. In 1645 a postal service was established
along the Gulf of Bothnia, too, and via Tornea to Finland. By degrees, sea-
post connections with Gottland, the Baltic provinces, and abroad were established,
by means of placing post-yachts on various lines. From 1662, we find a number
of the more important mails of the country increased to bi-weekly ones. I t
was not till 1810 that the mail-service between Stockholm and Gothenburg was
extended to four trips per week, and fifty years later the point was finally
reached — partly by the employment of railway facilities — of being able to
arrange a daily despatch of mails between the capital and the second city of the
Kingdom. The number of post-offices amounted during the first few years to
no more than 29, but by 1668 had increased to 78. — At first the postage was
always the same for all distances — 2 ore silver (corresponding to about 16’6 ore
of the present Swedish currency) — but it was soon graduated.
Even ¿iipi the Swedish postal service, in conformity with its origin, was from
the very first considered as a branch of the public service, it was not before
the year 1677 th a t this view was fully established, the State from th a t time
taking over in perpetuity the direction of the service and receiving all the
revenues from the business. Before this date, the service had been in part
leased or hired out to private individuals, but it seems, however, as if it had
th§, whole time been under the superintendence of the Chancery, which issued
the necessary directions to the head of the service, who, in official documents,
is sometimes called Post Master, sometimes General State Post Master or Post
Director. From 1697, the immediate management of the service was placed in
the hands of the office of a Chief Post-Director, although the Chancery did
not relinquish its supreme control.
Remarkably enough, the postal institution was greatly favoured and protected
during the reign of Charles XII, In 1704 were issued, from the military camp
at Yaroslav, instructions to the Post Office service, which were only superseded
159 years latdb by the Instructions for the present Post Office Board. The
“Instructions for Postmasters”, issued in 1707, which were in many respects of
merit, have also, in certain of their chief features, remained in force until our
own times. During the last years of the reign of Charles XII, a royal ordi