The post office and its story an interesting account of the activities of a great government department

“The Department was always there, watching the flow of money through the Post Office system, ready to pounce on anything wrong, just as certain corpuscles in our blood were ready to deal with any foreign substance in our systems. In fact, the staff of the Accountant-General's Department were the guardian corpuscles of the Post Office system, and without them the Post Office could not be maintained in health and efficiency. Over 200 millions of public money passed through the hands of Post Office officials, and it was the duty of the Department to see that it did pass through. (Laughter.) Every year some 20 millions of money were spent on Post Office work, and it was their duty to see that those 20 millions were properly spent. Of course the Accountant-General's Department itself cost a large sum of money, and he was not sure that it would not be cheaper to be cheated. (Loud laughter.) It was the duty of their Department to throw upon the scaring proposals of imaginative men— not the cold light of reason, that was done by the Solicitor's Department— (laughter)— but the even colder light of arithmetic. (Cheers and laughter).” I quote from a report in the Civilian. The Engineer-in-Chief is a man whose duties have developed enormously during recent years. The telegraph and the telephone demand mechanical genius and considerable scientific attainments. A huge army of engineers is maintained to keep the telegraph and telephone plant in proper condition, and to organise new lines. The position of Engineer-in-Chief has been held by Sir William Preece and Sir John Gavey, and both men have big reputations in the scientific world. Sir William Preece has done much to popularise the knowledge of the working of electricity by his writings.