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435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
192
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superseded,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.
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