The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-13 00:00:00

A. Sanford that the aristocracy were best fitted to
represent the country, and he had no doubt, there-
fore, that if two democratic gentlemen were sent
from Birmingham or elsewhere to contest the
Western Division, Mr. W. A. Sanford would sup-
port the aristocrats and vote for the present mem-
bers. (Much laughter and applause.) Another com-
plaint he (Mr. Bentinck) had to make of the so-called
Liberal party was their want of liberality. He would
cite the cases of Mr. Bernal Osborne and Mr. Augus-
tus Smith, of Truro, who were ousted from their
seats because, to use Mr. B. Osborne's expressive
phrase, " they were disobedient to the crack of the
official whip," and thus eminent men were lost to
the country whose place could not easily be sup-
plied. It would be admitted, he thought, that so-
called Liberal gentlemen at election times ofteri
said more than they really meant ; but now that
they had been allowed their say on the hustings he
trusted that, on taking their seats in Parliament,
they would throw off their muzzles and join with the
Conservatives to form a great constitutional party
which should advocate the cause of real progress,
and cease to meddle with subjects that led only to
agitation and discontent. (Applause.) Mr. Bentinck
concluded by saying that when he first had the
honour of meeting the men of Taunton they were
good friends—they had continued to be good friends
—they parted as good friends, and he trusted, when
they should meet on some future occasion, that they
should be better friends than ever ; and although
no longer representing them in Parliament, he should
always do his best to further their cause to the
utmost of his ability. (Cheers.)

The Postman and the Increase in the Price

of Provisions.

On Saturday night a general meeting of letter
carriers was held at the school-room, Aldersgate-
street, to take into consideration the necessity of
applying to the authorities for an increase of pay,
on account of the increase inthe price of provisions.
Mr. Baker, who was stated to be a first-class letter
carrier, was called to the chair, and in a few earnest
remarks reminded th,e meeting that they were called
together for the purpose of considering a question of
vital importance to the welfare of the men, and he
hoped that no one, by travelling out of the strict
business of the meeting, would make observations
that might tend to defeat rather than to advance the
object they had in view. Mr. Padfield then moved,
and Mr. Lockfield seconded, a resolution to the
effect that, owing to the increase in the price of pro-
visions and also of rent, the existing scale of remu-
neration to letter carriers was inadequate to the sup-
port of themselves and their families, and that a
deputation should be appointed to wait on the head
of the department, for the purpose of representing
their case, and urging upon him the necessity of an
increase of pay commensurate with the rise in pro-
visions. Both to speakers in guarded and temperate
language called attention to the fact that necessity
alone had induced them to come forward to advocate
' the claims of themselves and their fellow-men. From
their statement it appeared that the present rate of
wages was on a graduated scale, commencing at
about 18s. a week, and reaching after about 12 years'
service to 255. per week ; and the mover of the re-
solution entered into statistics to show that with the
present high price of provisions a man with a wife
and four children (which represented the average
position with regard to families of the London
postmen) could not support himself in decency
even at the highest rate. Proper house accom-
modation for such a family could not be obtained
under 6s. per week; bread cost ss. 3d. ; meat,
reckoning 11b. per day at the low price of 9d., cost
ss. 3d. per week ; butter 2s. ; coffee and tea,
Is. ; sugar, 7d ; vegetables, 4d. per day ; coals,
1 cwt. per week, Is. 6d. ; candles and wood, 9d. ;
and soap and soda, 6d. He thought on examina-
tion this would be found little enough for six per-
sons, and if the various items were added together it
would be found that these, the mere necessaries of
life, would cost more than the whole of the wages of
the first-class letter-carriers. It was indeed well
known that if the letter carriers had to depend solely
upon the wages that they received from the Post-
office they could not exist. The seconder of the
resolution controverted the assertion that a sum of
money sufficient to make up for the scantiness of their
wages was received by the letter-carriers from the
public in the shape of Christmas-boxes, but quite
acknowledged that the public were liberally disposed
towards a class of servants so generally meritorious
as the letter carriers. Ile was sure that any increase
in their wages would meet with the approbation of
those who were so largely interested in the removal
of all temptation from the letter carrier. The reso-
lution was agreed to unanimously, and a deputation
having been nominated, the thanks of the meeting
were given to the chairman and committee, and the
proceedings terminated.