We cannot enter far into the minutiæ of the Committee's deliberations. Mr. Hill endeavoured to show that economy in the management of the Post-Office had been neglected. The number of clerks and letter-carriers which had sufficed for the complex system that had been superseded, must more than suffice for the work of the Office under his simplified arrangements: yet no reduction had been made. Economy, he said, had been neglected in the way contracts had been let; in the manner railway companies were remunerated for carrying mails. He computed that the sum of 10,000l. a-year had been paid to these companies for space in the trains that had never been occupied. He also endeavoured to show that the salaries of nearly all the postmasters in the country needed revision; that the establishments of each should also be revised. The changes under the new system, taken together with the changes which railways had made, had had the effect of increasing the work of some offices, but greatly decreasing that of many more. He proposed that there should be a complete revision of work and wages; that postmasters should be paid on fixed salaries; and that all perquisites, with the exception of a poundage on the sale of postage-stamps, should be given up. Late-letter fees had, up to the year 1840, been received by the postmasters themselves. Under the Penny Postage Act, however, these fees went to the revenue, and compensation, at a certain fixed rate, was granted to the postmasters in lieu of them. Mr. Hill stated that the amount of compensation granted was generally too much, and was to be accounted for on the ground that the postmasters had, in all the cases, made their own returns.
Mr. Hill's principal recommendations to this Committee were—
(1) The plan of a cheap registration of letters. (2) That all inland letters should be prepaid (care being taken that postmasters should be supplied with a sufficient stock of postage-stamps), and double postage charged for all unpaid letters. (3) Reduction in the staff of officers till the number of letters increased to five or sixfold; that the London officers should be fully and not only partially employed; and that female employment might be encouraged in the provinces. (4) Simplification in the mode of assorting letters. (5) The adoption of measures to induce the public to facilitate the operations of the Post-Office—by giving complete and legible addresses to letters, by making slits in house-doors, and other means. (6) The establishment of a greater number of rural post-offices, till, eventually, there should be one set up in every village. (7) All restrictions as to the weight of parcels to be removed, and a book-packet rate to be established, with arrangements for conveying prints, maps, &c. &c. That railway stations should have post-offices connected with them, and that letter-sorting should be done on board the packets, were among his miscellaneous suggestions.
With especial reference to the London Office, Mr. Hill recommended (1) the union of the two corps of general and district letter-carriers; (2) the establishment of district offices; (3) an hourly delivery of letters instead of one every two hours, the first delivery to be finished by nine o'clock.
Nearly the whole of these recommendations were combated by the officers of the Post-Office during their examination—and successfully so—though it is certainly remarkable that, in the face of their opinions, the great majority of the proposals have subsequently been carried out with unquestioned advantage to the service. It would be a weary business to relate the objections made, and the exceptions taken to each recommendation as it came up to be considered. Of course the non possumus argument was frequently introduced. Colonel Maberly said it was an impossibility that there should be hourly deliveries in London. A post-office in every village was thought equally absurd. We need only add, that the labours of the Committee led to little practical result. They decided, by a majority of four, not to report any judgment on the matter. Though this result must have been eminently unsatisfactory to Mr. Hill, especially on account of their not having expressed themselves on his grievances, yet, by refusing to exonerate the Post-Office from the charges which he had brought against it, the Committee may be said to have found for the reformer. With regard to Mr. Hill's further suggestions, they refer to the evidence, and, "entertain no doubt that his propositions will receive the fullest consideration" from the Treasury and the Post-Office. So they did eventually, after some weary years of waiting. Fifty years before, Mr. Palmer, writing to Mr. Pitt, said, "I have had every possible opposition from the Office." Mr. Hill might truly have said the same. Thus it is that history repeats itself, and "the thing which hath been, it is that which shall be."
FOOTNOTES:
[101] Post-Office Reform, p. 26.
[102] Results of the New Postal Arrangements, read before the Statistical Society of London, 1841.
[103] Second Report, p. 365.