POSTAL ECONOMY AT GLASGOW.
Scotchmen are famous for their economical disposition. Here is a remarkable instance of Scotch economy:—
"LETTER CARRIERS—AN APPEAL.
"To the Editor of the Glasgow Herald."Dear Sir,—We feel, with you, indignant at the scurvy treatment we have received at the hands of the London authorities, in reference to our Post Office, and think we ought to take the matter in the meantime in our own hands, so far as concerns the Carriers.
"We all confess they are badly paid, and a highly deserving class of public servants. We therefore propose to all the merchants in this district to co-operate with us and form a committee, to give a practical expression to our feelings for the men, by raising a fund to give them at least 4s. per week extra to their present low salaries, and a suit of comfortable uniform.
"We calculate that a very small weekly sum from a tenth part of the merchants here would place the men for one year in a comfortable position, and be the means more fully of calling public attention and indignation to the subject.
"If the above scheme succeeds in this district, it might be extended to others.
"We shall be glad to receive communications on this proposal, and shall consider ourselves richly paid for any trouble we have taken in the matter, if it be the means of placing the Letter Carriers in comparative comfort.
"We are, dear Sir, yours very truly,
"Wilson & Matheson, 58, Candleriggs."
It is much cheaper for a merchant to contribute a small weekly sum towards giving his letter carrier a proper salary, than it is to be out of pocket through having letters of importance, some containing remittances, mislaid or stolen, because the man is not paid enough to induce a competent and honest person to undertake the situation.
This example of Scotch prudence, therefore, is one that deserves to be followed by the generous commercial public, indeed by the public at large, of England: if Her Majesty's upper servants at Downing Street cannot be induced to allot a fair proportion of wages to Her Majesty's under servants in connexion with St. Martin's-le-Grand.
But it would really be almost a saving if the Government were to give the postmen a reasonable hire. When Mercury the messenger turns Mercury the thief, and, tempted by want, steals half-a-sovereign, marked by Mr. Sculthorpe, out of the letter he is intrusted with, getting himself, by that act, into the dock at the Assizes, and thence into penal servitude, he costs the country, from first to last, more than would have sufficed to maintain several honest Mercuries during the same time in blue and scarlet and respectability.
That the proposal, alike judicious and handsome, for making up for Government's stinginess to the letter carriers by private liberality, should have emanated from Messrs. Wilson and Matheson of Glasgow, is a fact that adds a feather to the cap of Scotland, and if acted upon by their countrymen, will render it impossible any longer to withhold the position on the Royal Standard, which is claimed by that sagacious and noble animal the Scottish Lion.