The consequence, I am happy to say, was the abandonment of the demand, and the maintenance of the previous practice; which, I understand, remains unchanged to the present time (1868).
MONEY ORDERS.
The amount annually transmitted, which before the establishment of penny postage had been less than one-third of a million, but in the fourteen following years had risen to nearly ten millions, rose between 1854 and 1859 to more than thirteen millions;[145] and the profit, which had been gradually substituted for a loss, and had risen by 1854 to somewhat more than £16,000, rose by the end of 1859 to more than £29,000.[146]
Obstacles to Economy.
Further economy, to the extent of about £1000 a year, might have been effected by the adoption of an arrangement prepared by my brother for farming out what is called “the window duty” (that is, the direct transaction of ordinary post office business with the public) at the chief money order office, on a plan already in very general use elsewhere; but, though this was recommended to three several Postmasters-General, its adoption was not obtained.[147] Success would have led to a great extension of the recommendation; our joint conviction being that all the duties of postmasters and their subordinates, together with much other business of the department, might be most economically and effectually performed under a system of contracts. At the same time the obstacle to the change was then, as now, far from inconsiderable; the manifest effect being to diminish, in proportion to its extent, the amount of that patronage on which every Administration counts as a means of influence. It must not be forgotten, indeed, that the Liberal Administration under the Earl of Aberdeen made a very handsome sacrifice of patronage, in relation to the appointment of provincial postmasters; and there is ground for believing that this change, instead of being disliked by Members of Parliament, had from most a hearty approval; relieving them as it did, so far, from the importunities of place-hunting constituents. At the same time, it must be admitted that, until there be a more general enlightenment in the public itself, combined with a more resolute discontinuance of everything like corrupt practice, it will be difficult for any administration, however liberal, to take those bold steps which alone can put the public service on a sound footing.
With regard to the economic tendency of the plan of contracts, I do not think it would be an over-sanguine estimate to fix the annual saving of public money to be ultimately derived from its full adoption and careful administration, in the Post Office alone, at a quarter of a million sterling.
PACKET SERVICE.
Post Office versus Admiralty.
As the packet service remained during the whole of this period in the hands of the Admiralty, the action of the Post Office upon it was necessarily indirect and limited; as is strikingly exemplified by the fact that in the year 1857 the contract with the West Indian Packet Company was renewed not only without my knowledge, but without that even of the Postmaster-General. The inconvenience of such a course appeared distinctly enough two years later when Mr. Anthony Trollope, being sent out to the West Indies on other business, was able, although a landsman, to propose a scheme of routes for the mail-packet at once more convenient and more economical than the existing routes, and, in the opinion of the hydrographer to the Admiralty, superior to them even in a nautical point of view. This scheme nevertheless had to wait long for adoption, because no satisfactory arrangement could be made with the directors of the company; and their renewed contract had yet four years to run.[148]
Moreover, the omission to introduce into the renewed contract efficient stipulations to secure punctuality led to its natural consequence; some of the packets worked by this company, viz., those between St. Thomas, Colon, and Greytown, being the least punctual in all the mail-packet service; while the most punctual were those between Devonport and the Cape of Good Hope, belonging to the Union Steamship Company, into whose contract such stipulations had been introduced in their strongest form, and which in the year 1859 made every one of its voyages within the appointed time.[149]