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1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
373
We
incline
to
the
belief
that
the
time
will
come
when,
in
the
provinces
for
instance,
more
liberal
allowances
will
be
made
to
the
lower
grades
of
Post-Office
officials;
when
the
graphic
description
already
given
by
the
postman
poet
would,
if
uttered,
be
regarded
as
a
libel
on
his
class
of
officers.
On
the
other
hand,
with
regard
to
the
same
class
of
men
in
the
metropolitan
office,
the
more
the
question
is
calmly
considered,
the
less
reason
is
there
for
sympathy
with
the
popular
view.
In
1860,
the
Times
gave
a
dismal
account
of
the
sufferings
of
the
London
letter-carriers,
whose
cause
it
espoused
more
warmly
than
wisely.
"Hard-worked
and
ill-paid,"
said
the
leading
journal,
"these
men
are
all
discontented
and
sullen;
they
are
indifferent
to
the
proper
performance
of
their
duties,
and
hold
the
threat
of
dismissal
in
utter
disdain,
feeling
sure,
as
they
say,
that
even
stone-breaking
on
the
road-side
would
not
be
harder
labour
and
scarcely
less
remunerative."
A
short
time
after,
the
other
side
of
the
picture
relating
to
these
would-be
stone-breakers
was
given,
not
by
an
anonymous
writer
in
the
Times,
but
by
a
Cabinet
Minister.
The
report
of
the
late
Lord
Elgin
stated
that
"there
need
not
be
the
least
difficulty
in
procuring,
at
the
present
wages,
honest,
intelligent,
and
industrious
young
men,
perfectly
qualified
for
the
office
of
letter-carrier:
and,
I
may
add,
that
in
cases
of
dismissal--happily
a
rare
occurrence,
considering
the
number
of
men
employed--the
most
strenuous
efforts
are
made
to
obtain
readmission
to
the
service."
Regarding
the
question
in
a
practical
common-sense
light,
there
could
be
no
manner
of
doubt
as
to
which
statement
should
carry
most
weight.
Other
organs
of
the
press,
however,
either
thought
differently,
or
dispensed
with
the
preliminary
investigation
which
the
Post-Office
courts
rather
than
discourages,
and
which
inquiry
it
would
only
have
been
fair
to
make.
Only
last
year
an
important
commercial
paper
commented
sympathisingly
on
"the
loud
and
deep
complainings
of
the
London
letter-carrier,
of
the
grinding
oppression
to
which
they
are
subjected,
and
their
ineffectual
struggles
to
obtain
redress;"
and
this
opinion
was
echoed
round
by
many
smaller
lights.
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