The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-02 00:00:00

skilled labour—these things commended them to the con-
sideration of the house. Attention had been called to the
case of the country letter-carriers, who were prohibited
from soliciting, not from receiving, Christmas-boxes,
though that probably did not make much difference. The
Postmaster-General very much concurred in the observa-
tions that had been made on their case. He had it at this
moment under consideration, with a view to rectifying it
in such a way as should prove of advantage to the Post-
office service. (Hear.) As the question involved a large
sum of money, there being thousands of persons employed
as letter-carriers throughout the country, it would be right
to allow the Postmaster-General full time to consider the
best mode of meeting the case. (Hear, hear.) As to the
London letter-carriers, the Postmaster-General was also
quite prepared to admit that there was at present an ine-
quality greater than was sanctioned or justified by the dif-
ference of duties they had to perform, and which ought to
be remedied in some way or other. (Hear, hear.) A dif-
ference had subsisted for some years. It had arisen out
of circumstances very different from those now existing.
The frequent arrival of mails during the day, and the
arrival of foreign mails, the contents of which must
necessarily be conveyed to every district at the earliest
possible moment, had greatly increased the duties de-
volving on the district letter-carriers. One of the ori-
ginal reasons in favour of a higher remuneration to the
twopenny-postmen still existed—they were obliged to
attend at very early hours to assist in the in-door business
of sorting letters. The difference of wages was not so
great as that of the superannuation allowance ; and the
public service had probably been injured by reducing the
superannuation allowance, because men sought to retain
the situations longer than they were able to perform the
duties. At present the superannuation allowance to the
general post letter-carriers varied from 201. to 501., accord-
ing to the length of service ; the highest amount that had
recently been given was 231. Bs. The Postmaster-General
allowed that that was a subject which would readily ad-
mit of some consideration. The complaint of the provin-
cial letter-carriers was already under his lordship's consi-
deration ; and he (Mr. Wilson) was sure the house would
rather leave the matter in his hands, with a view to arriv-
ing at a fair arrangement than deal with it themselves.
As to the anomalies said to exist in various parts of the
country, nothing could be more unfair or unjust than
that salaries should be paid to public servants without re-
gard to the ordinary wages in those districts. It was well
known that the rate of wages was very different
at Hertford, for instance, from what it was in a large
manufacturing town like Glasgow ; and it was the duty of
the Postmaster-General to consider at what rate he could
get those services performed. He would be much blamed
were he to pay 20s. a week to those men in the agricultu-
ral districts, because they were receiving 20s. in Liverpool
and other large towns. The honourable gentleman had
said, that the number of postmen should be in pro-
portion to the population. He could not take a more
fallacious test. At Liverpool packets were arriving at all
hours of the night, at uncertain times ; and to consult the
convenience of the commercial public, who were anxious
to have the letters brought by those packets with the least
delay, it was necessary to have a large force of men in
waiting, in order that no time might be lost on the arrival
of a packet. Again, at Birmingham, which was a great
thoroughfare for the mails to and from other towns, it was
impossible that the number of men employed in the Post-
office service should be regulated by the population of the
place or that it should be any test at all. This was a
question of very serious financial interest. He was cer-
tain the house would not be parsimonious in doing justice
to such a deserving body of men ; but, considering the
immense amount of money paid for the management of
the Post-office, and the large proportion of the receipts now
sacrificed (he did not say improperly so) in that way, it
was evident that the slightest increase in the wages of
thousands of persons, unless absolutely necessary, must
form a very large charge upon the remaining small balance.
Wherever application was made to the Postmaster-General
or the Treasury in cases of this kind, a remedy was applied
if necessary. But it would be impossible to lay down a
general rule • he therefore hoped the house would leave the
Government to deal with the cases as they occurred, ac-
cording to the merits of each ; and each case would receive
the utmost attention.
After some further discussion, the motion was with-
drawn.