That, in the year 1835, Peters, Moore & Co. contracted with the Post Office Department to transport the mail on route No. 1031, from Philadelphia to Chambersburgh, for the sum of $3,750 per annum; and also on route No. 1058, from Chambersburgh to Pittsburgh, for $11,750 per annum.

In their petition they state that, at the time of making the contract with the department, the weight of the mails sent by those routes was 400 to 500 pounds daily, and no more. They entered on the performance of their contracts on the 1st of January, 1836, and that during the same month additional mails were put in their charge that were previously to that time transported on other routes, increasing the weight, for three or four days in a week, to 2,000 pounds; and on other days to 1,200 pounds—for this excess of weight they ask compensation. Your committee do not conceive this claim to be well founded, either in law or equity; from the fact that at the time of letting the contracts on these routes, the contractors were prohibited from taking more than three outside passengers, clearly contemplating that a large amount of mail matter was to be transported; and further, that it would be a dangerous precedent to establish, that the increased weight of the mails should entitle contractors to extra compensation.

They also ask compensation for supplying offices off from the mail road by waggons. By the terms of their contract they were

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to supply those offices by hand or otherwise; and by the laws of 1843, it appears that they were allowed the sum of $2,166[.]66 for this service; and, although not as much as they claimed, was to be in full for the service. They also claim compensation for transporting the mail by stage coaches, while the railroad was obstructed by snow. Your committee are unable to discover the justice of this claim; they contracted to carry the mail by stage coaches and railroad, and if the railroad was not in a condition to be used, it was the duty of the contractors to forward the mail in stage coaches, and in the best possible manner; and from the statement of the Postmaster General, it appears that the contractors were not fined by reason of their not being, under the circumstances, able to deliver the mail according to the schedule time.

Peters, Moore & Co. submitted their claims to the Postmaster General, who decided that they were not entitled to any relief; and your committee are of opinion that no further relief should be granted by Congress.