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We have before noticed statements taken from the report of the British Postoffice. By the annexed, which is copied from the Boston Post, it will be perceived that the employments of the Duke of Argyll in the time of Queen Caroline, and he of the time of Victoria, are essentially different. The fourth annual report of the Postmaster-General of Great Britain, (for 1857,) is just out. It appears to have been issued by the Duke of Argyll, just before he left office, as it is signed by him, and dated February 25th, though not published till April. It is similar in size and appearance to the annual report of our Post-office Department, and evidently a copy of the plan long in use in this country; for until the last four years, the British Post-office has issued no distinct yearly report. The present number is a modest brown, or tea-colored, pamphlet of 84 pages, and is taken up with current statistics, past progress, postal history, notices of railway bills, postal conventions with foreign nations, and reports of the health officer and controller on the sanitary condition of the Post-office, and the general health of the men. Everything in the report indicates system, care, and good manage ment, very different from the "circumlocution office," made notorious by the pen of Dickens. There are in Great Britain 11,101 post-offices, and of these 810 are head post-offices, and 10,271 sub post-offices. The increase during the year 1857 was 256. The number of persons employed in the British postal service within the kingdom is 23,545. There are also 125 in the colonies that are considered as attached to the home Post-office, and 61 agents in foreign countries, for the collection of postage, making a total of 23,731. These persons are classed as follows:--1 Postmaster-General, 5 secretaries and assistant secretaries, 15 surveyors, 19 other superior officers, 11,101 postmasters, 1,610 clerks, &c., 205 mail guards, 10,582 letter carriers, messengers, &c., and 7 marine mail officers.

Payment to be made in advance. All other letters optional.

+ Weekly, per annum. Papers in all cases to be paid in advance.

In large offices many of the same persons that are classed as letter carriers and messengers, act as clerks and sorters a portion of the time, on the arrival or before the departure of important mails. The gross expenses or actual amount of money paid out for the support of the Post-office during the year is set down as $8,604,380, and consists of the following items, along with the expenses of 1856, in a parallel column :—

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WEAR AND TEAR OF IRON ON THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD AND BRANCHES. ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT, PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY.

TO SAMUEL J. REEVES, Esq., Vice-President Phoenix Iron Company :DEAR SIR-The following is a copy of the account of worn out and condemned rails, taken from the line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, from the opening of the road in September, 1849, to November, 1857, viz. :—

Eastern Division, (Harrisburg to Altoona,).
Western Division (Altoona to Pittsburg,)...

Total.......

...

.tons

553

2,084

2,637

223 2314

4541

Total miles of track on Eastern Division, including double track and sidings
Western Division.....

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Total......

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

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.....

454

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Total main track, 248 miles, and second track and sidings, 206 miles...
The following quantities and patterns were laid, as below :-

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158

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Sidings.

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141

1,678

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40

414

3,536 41,686

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WEAR AND TEAR.

Eastern Division--Length, 223 miles; rails removed, 5 miles; quantity, 553 tons. Western Division

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201

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2,084

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8 y'rs; equal to about p. ct. p. an.

Western Division

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The entire purchases since the beginning of the construction, up to November

1st, 1857 :

Brought from above statement.....

A small quantity of steel-headed rails and city grooved rails, say..

Total

323

.tons 47,677

48,000

Seven-eighths of all the rails in use were made at the Phoenix and Safe Harbor Iron Works, by Reeves, Buck & Co., and Reeves, Abbott & Co. None of the iron removed from track was remanufactured until 1856, when a few hundred tons were re-rolled; also, an additional quantity during the year 1857 :— The entire quantity remanufactured was..

After the whole 4544 miles of track was laid with rails, there were left over

.....

Sufficient to lay 23 miles of track. This quantity was

1,394 tons.

2,455 tons 64 lb. T. sufficient to replace

nearly all the worn out and broken rails taken up from September, 1849, to

November, 1857. Thus :

On hand

Re-rolled..

Total

Removed 26 miles, or

Balance of 64 lb. T rails on hand, November, 1857 .....

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The number of tons required to lay a mile of track of the several patterns, is as below:

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The Eastern Division has been open since September 1st, 1849, and is laid entirely with Phoenix and Safe Harbor iron.

The main track is 132 miles long.

The first 65 miles, say from Harrisburg to Lewiston, is laid with 64 pound Trails, from the Phoenix Works. The remaining distance, and all the second track, is laid with 64 pound T rails made at the Safe Harbor Works.

The wear and tear of rails includes the use of them in construction of road. PHILADELPHIA, November 15th, 1858.

I have compared the foregoing statement, prepared by S. J. Reeves, from data furnished him from this office, and find the amount of iron rails, purchased for the tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and the amount worn out and taken from the track, to be correct to the date given, viz., November, 1857. HERMAN J. LOMBAERT, Cont. & Aud. P. R. R. Co.

PHILADELPHIA, November 16th, 1858. The foregoing is a fair exhibit of the wear of rails upon the Pennsylvania Railroad. It is a very satisfactory certificate of the good quality of the rails furnished by the Phoenix and Safe Harbor Works, from whence seven-eighths of all the iron used on this road was obtained.

The durability of the rails furnished from these works, I am gratified to state, has exceeded our expectations.

J. EDGAR THOMSON, President Pennsylvania Railroad Company.

AUSTRIAN RAILWAYS.

A statement of the Austrian railway, Francois-Joseph, appears in the report of the first general meeting of shareholders. The information was supplied by M. Etsel, the engineer. The lines are as follows:-

1. Vienna, Oedenburg, Steimanger to Kanisa, 28 miles. 2. Pragerhoff to Kanisa, 15 miles. 3. Uj, Szony, (Comorn,) Stuhlweissenburg to Ofen, 19 miles. 4. Kanisa to Esseg, 24 miles. 5. Esseg to Semlin, 22 miles. Total, 157 miles. Each inspecting engineer to have from 15 to 20 miles. Engineers of "section" (resident engineers) to have five to superintend directly. An administrative inspector, or "traveling director," is stationed with each inspecting engineer. The state of the staff at the end of 1857, was as follows:-Traveling directors, 13; inspecting engineers, 12; ditto for surveys, 7; ten working "sections," 86; five surveys ditto, 22; total, 140. When the first group is in fair way of construction, the staff will be increased to 180, of whom 36 will belong to the secretary's department. The state of the work is as follows:- From Petau to Kanisa the first lot was contracted for on the 9th of December. Three other lots and the bridge over the Mur, near Callori, followed soon after. The other contracts will be put up for competition very shortly. The company treated with an English house for 650,000 cwt. of rails, at 6 florins 30 kreutzers per cwt.; and they attribute to the Indian war and the late crisis the low price, in spite of which the rails are proved to be of the best quality. They calculate that they have saved two million florins by this favorable bargain. Fifty locomotives are ordered at the government workshops at Vienna, and thirty at Esslingen, at an average rate of 30,500 florins, duty included.

CANAL RECEIPTS AND DISBURSEMENTS.

The comparative statement of receipts and disbursements on account of the Ohio canals for the fiscal year ending November 15th, 1858, do not make a very favorable showing for the State revenues. The receipts and expenditures have been as follows:

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The receipts for the fiscal year ending November 15th, 1857, were $330,511 73; disbursements for same time $309,263 35. Net revenue $21,248 38. Decrease in receipts over 1857, $45,210 44. Increase in disbursements over 1857, $73,743 73.

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