By November 1854 the diarist was able to write that his “plan has been adopted, more or less completely, in the following States: Austria, Baden, Bavaria, Belgium, Brazil, Bremen, Brunswick, Chile, Denmark, France, Frankfort, Hamburg, Hanover, Lubeck, Naples, New Grenada, Netherlands, Oldenburg, Peru, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, Saxony, Spain, Switzerland, Tuscany, United States, and Wurtemberg.” It seems worth while to repeat the long list just as my father gave it, if only to show how much, since that time, the political geography of our own continent has altered, most of the tiny countries and all the “free cities” of mid-nineteenth-century Europe having since that date become absorbed by larger or stronger powers. It will be noticed that Norway and Sweden had not yet followed the example of the other western European countries. But the then “dual kingdom” did not long remain an exception.
Among the first European powers to adopt the postal reform were, strange to say, Spain and Russia, neither of which was then accounted a progressive country. In September 1843 the Spanish ambassador wrote to Rowland Hill asking for information about postal matters, as his Government contemplated introducing the postage stamp, and, presumably, a certain amount of uniformity and low rates. Not long after, news came that Russia had adopted stamps. The chief motive in each case was, however, understood to be the desire to prevent fraud among the postmasters.
Although Spain moved early in the matter of postal reform, Portugal sadly lagged behind, no new convention having been effected with that country, and, consequently, no postal improvements, save in marine transit, made for fifty years. In 1858, however, mainly through the good offices of the British Ministers at Madrid and Lisbon, and of Mr Edward Rea, who was sent out from London by the Postmaster-General for the purpose, better postal treaties were made, both with Spain and Portugal. Even with such countries as Belgium, Germany (the German Postal Union), and the United States, progress in the way of treaties was very slow.
The postal revenues of all these European countries were smaller than our own, Portugal's being less than that of the city of Edinburgh. Small indeed is the connection between the amount of a country's correspondence and the number of its population. According to an official return published in the Journal de St Petersburg in 1855, the letters posted during the year throughout the huge empire of Russia were only 16,400,000, or almost the same number as those posted during the same year in Manchester and its suburbs.
By 1853 a low uniform rate of postage was established over the length and breadth of our even then vast Indian Empire; a few outlying portions alone excepted. For many years after the introduction of the new system, involving, as it did, complete adoption of Rowland Hill's plan, the Indian Post Office did not pay expenses; but by 1870 it became self-supporting.[204]
It has sometimes been asserted that, in his eagerness to make his reform a financial success, Rowland Hill cut down the wages of the lower strata of employees. Nothing could be more untrue. Economy, he believed, was to be obtained by simpler methods and better organisation, not by underpaying the workers. While at the Post Office he did much to improve the lot of these classes of men. Their wages were increased, they had greater opportunity of rising in the service, a pension for old age combined with assistance in effecting life assurance, gratuitous medical advice and medicines,[205] and an annual holiday without loss of pay. The number of working hours was limited to a daily average of eight, and a regulation was made that any letter-carrier who, taking one day with another, found his work exceed that limit, should be entitled to call attention to the fact and obtain assistance. An exhaustive enquiry was made as to the scale of wages paid, the hours of work required, etc.; and the report, when published, told the world that the men of similar rank in other callings, such as policemen, railway porters, and several more, were not so well treated as their brethren in the postal service. So clearly, indeed, was this proved that public endorsement of the fact was at once evidenced by a marked increase of applications for situations as sorters, letter-carriers, etc.
A striking proof of this recognition of a truth came at first hand to Rowland Hill's knowledge. He was consulting an old medical friend, and in the course of conversation the latter said that his footman wished to obtain an appointment as letter-carrier. Whereupon my father pointed out that the man was better off as footman, because, in addition to receiving good wages, he had board, lodging, and many other advantages. This, answered the doctor, had already been represented to the man; but his reply was that in the Post Office there was the certainty of continuity of employment and the pension for old age. The fact that the employees in a public department are not, like many other workers, liable at any moment to be sent adrift by the death or impoverishment of their employers, constitutes one of the strongest attractions to the service. Has this circumstance any connection with the growing disinclination of the poorer classes to enter domestic service?
In 1854 rural distribution was greatly extended, 500 new offices being opened. This extension, it may be remembered, was one of several measures which were persistently opposed by the enemies of the postal reform. How much the measure was needed, and, when granted, how beneficial were its results, is shown by the fact that it was followed by the largest increase of letters which had taken place in any year since 1840, or a gain on 1853 of 32,500,000.