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435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
290
As
the
question
whether
continual
railway
travelling
is
prejudicial
to
health
has
frequently
been
discussed
of
late,
it
may
not
be
out
of
place
to
instance
the
case
of
the
travelling
employés
of
the
Post-Office,
which
seems
to
show
that
persons
in
the
enjoyment
of
good
health
are
benefited
by
railway
travelling.
The
ratio
of
sickness
among
the
Post-Office
clerks
and
sorters
engaged
upon
railways
is
certainly
not
greater,
we
are
told,
than
among
the
same
class
of
officers
employed
at
the
London
establishment.
The
fact
seems
to
be
that,
were
it
not
that
the
former
travel
generally
at
night-time,
are
exposed
to
sudden
changes
of
weather,
and
are,
on
certain
emergencies,
forced
to
travel
oftener
and
further
than
the
authorized
limits,
the
ratio
would
be
considerably
less
than
it
is.
Dr.
Waller
Lewis,
the
medical
officer
of
the
Post-Office,
supplies
us,
in
a
recent
report,
with
a
number
of
cases
that
have
come
under
his
immediate
notice,
where
incessant,
and
even
excessive
railway
travelling,
does
not
seem
to
have
been
at
all
detrimental
to
the
health
of
those
so
engaged.
"One
of
our
best
officers,"
says
Dr.
Lewis,
"states
that
he
has
no
doubt
that,
during
the
period
of
twenty
years
that
he
has
been
engaged
in
railway
duties,
he
travelled,
on
an
average,
a
hundred
miles
a-day,
Sundays
included.
All
this
time
he
not
only
enjoyed
excellent
health,
but
he
was
stouter
and
stronger
than
he
has
been
since
leaving
that
duty."
Dr.
Lewis
further
tells
us,
that
it
is
part
of
his
duty
to
examine
candidates
for
appointment
in
this
department
of
the
public
service,
and
again
to
examine
them
after
they
have
undergone
a
probation
varying
from
six
to
eighteen
months.
"In
reply
to
my
question,
addressed
to
such
officers
after
a
probationary
term,
of
how
they
found
the
travelling
agree
with
them,
some
stated
that
they
had
never
been
so
well
in
their
lives.
A
considerable
number
of
them
replied
that
they
had
not
had
an
hour's
illness
since
they
commenced
railway
duty."
Of
course,
these
last-mentioned
persons
were
candidates
for
appointments
in
a
lucrative
branch
of
the
Post-Office,
and
their
statements
must
be
received
subject
to
this
understanding
and
with
due
caution:
still,
it
seems
certain
that
the
general
testimony
borne
in
the
travelling
offices
is
not
unfavourable
to
the
healthiness
of
the
employment.
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