On the 9th of October 1847 a Post Office was established at Taliesin midway between Machynlleth and Aberystwyth, in consequence of a memorial signed by yourself, by the late and present member for the Cardigan Boroughs and by a large number of residents in the immediate neighbourhood. It was arranged that the Salary of the Receiver should be paid by the inhabitants, until the weekly receipt of letters should amount to one hundred. Accordingly, for somewhat less than two years, I myself paid the Salary, which was fixed by the Post Office authorities at a minimum of £5. From the expiration of that time to the present the salary of £5 has been paid by the Post Office to the Receiver.

Until November 1851 there was only one letter-bag, viz. To Machynlleth, but since that time there has been one to Aberystwyth also, by which the labours of the Sub-Postmaster at Taliesin is considerably increased also. The weekly receipt now varies between 120 and 150, about two-thirds of the number coming from the Machynlleth office.

However, about three weeks since, the sub-Postmaster received a communication, dated Feb 1853 from Mr Churchill the Surveyor of this district, to inform him, that in consequence of a General Revision of the salaries "for the purpose of rendering the payments more in proportion to the duties than in many cases it hitherto has been," his Salary is reduced from £5 to £4.

Upon this I wish to observe:

1st. That if £5 was considered at the original establishment of the office to be in proportion to the duties of a Postmaster who received one hundred letters a week - £4 is not in proportion to his duties now that a larger number is received.

2nd. That Taliesin is last place in this district, to which the Machynlleth Post Office also belongs, Aberystwyth being included in the Gloucester district. It seems not impossible that the Surveyor, in reporting the number of letters received weekly in Taliesin, has reckoned only those which are received from Machynlleth, omitting those which come from the Aberystwyth office, which does not lie within his district.

I wish also to call the attention of Col. Maberley to the following points. The Mail does not stop to change horses at Taliesin. Accordingly the practice is for the Sub-Postmaster to go out into the road and hand up the bags to the Guard and as the down Mail is frequently much behind time he has often to wait out in the road even for hours, particularly as the Guard only occasionally thinks it necessary to give notice of the approach of the Mail by sounding his horn. The result of this has been that on two occasions it has passed without receiving the letters, and the Sub-Postmaster asserts that on both occasions it was several minutes before its time and he received no notice of its appearance.

1st. I am anxious to know whether the Mail Guard is not bound to deliver the bag at the office and to receive the other from the Sub-Postmaster.

2nd. Whether, if that is not the case, he is not obliged to give due notice by sounding his horn.

On the first point I would refer Col. Maberly to the "Instructions for the Guidance of Letter Receivers" (published by Authority) Part XI para 3 "A Receiver is held responsible for the….when received from them". How it is possible to comply with this direction, when the Guard throws down the bag in the road, from the Mail passing at full speed, I am at a loss to conceive. In fact it has happened that the wrong bag has by mistake been thrown down, for which the Sub-Postmaster was clearly "not responsible" under the circumstances.