During the middle part of the nineteenth century, a number of influences combined to change the administrative practices of the British government, changes which included the 'contracting-out' of long-distance overseas mail services and, subsequently, the transfer of responsibility for the organization of the overseas mails from the Admiralty to the Post Office, which had a far more commercial ethic. This paper evaluates these new approaches to the administration of the mail contracts and, in particular, compares the intentions and effects of policies adopted by the Post Office from 1860 until 1890 with those of the Admiralty during the preceding period.