Unhappily, the advantage which would have been gained by the adoption of my plan is now for ever lost. The contests it might have prevented during the last twenty years have done their disastrous work; but the future remains, and I believe it still possible to amend our railway system and even to adopt a plan more comprehensive than the one just described. My views on the subject appear in a separate Report, which I made as a member of the Commission on Railways appointed in the year 1865, the substance of which, I may remark, will be found in a summary appended thereto.[42]
I have now brought the year 1847, the first which I passed at the Post Office, to a general close. I have yet to speak of proceedings relative to one improvement, which, however, was not carried into effect until the following year. I narrate this at some length, not only because of its importance, but also because it serves well as a specimen of my course of proceeding during the long period which I passed in the anomalous position to which I had been appointed.
The Postmaster-General having requested me to examine the state of the Money Order Department, with a view to its improvement and extension, I succeeded in devising a plan which, while it effected many improvements, provided for a very large extension, and that without increasing the number of accounts with the chief office. I learnt now that a plan which I proposed when at the Treasury would have simplified operations exceedingly, but that its adoption, though earnestly pressed by Mr. Jackson (then at the head of the department), had been successfully resisted; and that, though some part of this plan had been superseded by other improvements, much yet remained which Mr. Jackson thought would be highly useful.
In my consequent preparations I was impeded frequently for hours, sometimes for days, by the want of necessary papers, the registration and arrangement being so defective that, according to the registering clerk, his death would leave the office in absolute perplexity. When the papers came they were sometimes exceedingly imperfect, the omission being in one instance that of a very important report; and of course fresh delays occurred while these omissions were supplied. Again, when, in reference to a proposed measure of economy, I called upon the head of the department and his immediate subordinate to support my views by expressing in writing opinions which they had given in conversation, they excused themselves by pleading that they should thereby incur serious displeasure.
The omitted report was one made some time before by Mr. Jackson, recommending an improvement calculated to save the department between £2,000 and £3,000 per annum. Taking up this rejected measure, I was enabled, after long elaboration, to procure its adoption, and in a few months more its beneficial results were placed beyond question; the head of the department reporting that the accounts were more complete and the checks more efficient, and that the annual saving was even greater than had been reckoned upon, amounting to nearly £3,500.
In the meantime, however, these various obstructions, combined with the fact that both in public estimation and by Colonel Maberly’s distinct renunciation I was now solely responsible for the right administration of this special department, led me to take a decided step. I accordingly wrote a minute, proposing that all minutes and instructions regarding the Money Order Department of England and Wales should proceed exclusively from myself; that all reports from the department should be addressed to me; in short, that the secretarial control of that department should thenceforth be entirely in my hands.
In consequence of this, the Postmaster-General wrote a minute on the subject, which, however, being modified by the Chancellor of the Exchequer,[43] to whom it was shown in draft, still left things in an unsatisfactory state. Upon my pointing out the insufficiency of the measure, Lord Clanricarde proposed that I should myself see the Chancellor of the Exchequer. While awaiting this interview, which took place about a fortnight later, I felt so much doubt as to the result, and consequently as to my ability to retain office, that I deemed it my duty to explain to my private secretary and my only clerk that they might have to look out for other appointments.
When at length I saw the Chancellor of the Exchequer difficulties seemed to vanish. He had no objection to the Money Order Department being placed under my exclusive management, having merely disapproved of the mode in which it was proposed that the change should be effected. He at once recognised the danger of divided responsibility, and, in short, undertook to arrange the whole matter with the Postmaster-General. Four days later the Postmaster-General informed me that he had decided to place the Money Order Department entirely under my management, but that he wished to consider further as to the mode. He thought of speaking to Maberly, with a view, if possible, of doing the thing quietly. My new powers were called into requisition the same day by a little symptom of insubordination in the Money Order Department. Confident of authority, I now felt justified in giving such warning to the offender[44] as produced instant submission, with abundance of promise for the future.
The difficulty, however, was not yet solved, for I presently found that the Postmaster-General, instead of himself drawing the minute transferring the secretarial authority over the Money Order Department to me, had remitted the task to Colonel Maberly. The result was such an instrument as would have both crippled my authority and lowered me in the eyes of each of the some twenty officers to whom the minute was to be communicated.[45] Unfortunately this minute, without any opportunity being allowed for objection, had been confirmed, not only by the Postmaster-General but also by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The course I took was to draw up a new minute, in the name, not of Colonel Maberly, but of the Postmaster-General himself, substantially the same as regarded the powers that were given me, but free from all offensive expression and unnecessary restriction. This I submitted to the Postmaster-General, urging its adoption; but, though he admitted the objectionable character of some parts of Colonel Maberly’s minute, I saw that he was disappointed and annoyed at my application.
In my renewed difficulty, I perceived that I must further consider my ground:—