The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-23 00:00:00

SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVEMNG JUNE 23. 1870.

hour. By careful industry Mr. GILPIN has collected
a startling series of facts. The nuisance has
been continually increasing. In March, April,
and May of 1867 the House of Commons sat
40/ hours after midnight ; in the same three
moat is of 1868, 36 hours; in the corresponding
period of 1869, 45 hours; and in 1870, 661 hours.
Mr. GILPIN'S details of what was done during May
of this year are fearful :
On May 2-3 the House sat till 2 o'clock, on the 3rd till
1, on the sth-6th till 2, on the 6th-7th two hours after
midnight, on the 9th-10th two hours after midnight ; on
the 10th, till 1.45 ; on the 12-13th, till 2 o'clock ; on the
13-14th, till 1.45 ; on the 16-17th, till 1.45 ; on the 20th,
till 1.30 ; on the 21-22nd, till 3 ; on the 23-24th, till
1.15 ; on the 24-25th, till 2 ; on the 26-27th, till a quarter
to 2 ; on the 27-28th, till 2 o'clock ; on the 30-31st, ti 112.45,
meeting again at 12 ; and on the 31st, the House sat till
1.15.

Mr. GILPIN believes that the illness, temporary and
permanent, of so many Ministers is to be attributed
to these late hours ; and it may be conceded, with-.
out further argument, that this unnatural keeping of
legislators from their families and their beds
is much to be lamented. But the first
consideration is the proper transaction of public
business. Public business is not properly transacted
even now, and the state of affairs would be much
worse if the country were robbed of that great pro-
gress which is often made after midnight, when
members are exhausted and can prate no
more. Morning sessions are objectionable to
men of business, and nobody seems disposed -to
do any work after • July. The session is
very shOrt, and therefore the sittings must be long.
There is, however, one resource. The House might
delegate a great deal of routine work, over which it
now squabbles, to a paid body of competent men,
reserving power of supervision to itself. Take,
for instance, the Merchant Shipping Bill.
This immense measure —it forms a large
volume—is for the most part merely the codification
of laws already enacted. Few points are likely to
cause any difficulty. Why should it not be handed
over to a body of competent jurists to dispose of in
detail, leaving every disputed point to be settled
by Parliament P As it is, this' measure
was postponed last session, it will be
postponed this session, and probably will fare
no better in 1871—all from the want of time to ex-
plore such a mass of detail. There could be nothing
lost, and much would be gained by getting outside
assistance in the case of this and similar affairs of rou-
tine. Mr. Gilpin might then go home at a reasonable
hour, and his " mutilated motion" would no longer
be needful.

IT is often noticed that representative Govern-
ment has flourished in Britain much more
completely than in any other country where it has
been tried. This success is no doubt in great measure
to be attributed to the vast scope for grumbling
which that system of rule affords. The British
subject is a grumbling being ; representative
Government suits• him to a nicety. Amongst
such a large selection of officials some
one is always going wrong and furnishing
matter for animadversion. When the number of
authorities is so extensive, it is easy to administer
each one his dose without imposing unduly upon any
individual. Now it is the Exchequer that is taken
in hand ;. then the Home Secretary gets his turn ; and
next the Telegraph Office is the chosen victim. Of all
the various executive departments this latter has been
the most successful; but its many triumphs do not save
it from the consequences of one far from unqualified
shortcoming. Surely the attitude of the public in
respect of the delays and irregularities in the tele-
graph service is not altogether considerate.
Seldom was a reform more needed, and at the same
time more difficult to thoroughly accomplish, than
the transfer of the telegraphs to the Govern-
ment. Previously to that change the great
invention of the century had been but half
utilised. A high rate for private telegrams made
the sending of a message a luxury, and the receipt of
one a grave and sometimes alarming event. A short
and bad supply of news was the inevitable result of
a monopoly. Upon the nation at large, in short, the
electric telegraph was made to confer the smallest
benefit at the greatest possible cost. The trans-
fer to the Post Office was arranged in the public
interest, and it is beyond question that the public
has gained by it. So entire has been the
change accomplished, so vast has been the
encouragement given to private telegraphy, and so
largely is that encouragement turned to account, so
great has been the advance in the supply of intelli-
gence, that it would appear as if we had been only ex-
perimenting with the telegraph hitherto, and that the
invention was but just coming into general use. A low
tariff and free competition in respect of news brought
an increase of business which put all previous calcu-
lations to shame. The Post Office is in the position
of an individual who, having purchased a business,
and offering very favourable terms of dealing, finds
his premises and fixtures altogether unequal to the
work.

These are considerations which we have more than
once urged in connection with the delays and irre-
gularities so much complained of a short time ago.
They apply with particular force to the greatly dis-
cussed defects in the Irish service. In the case of
Ireland the difficulties of the Government have been
greater, simply because the advantages it offered
were much more decisive. Communication with Ire-
laud is partly submarine, and therefore more
limited and difficult of extension than the
connection between any stations in Great Britain.
Under the old system the charge for telegrams across
St. George's Channel was exceptionally high—three
shillings the ordinary message. The uniform shilling
rate brought down the Irish tariff to one-third of its
former figure. The unexpected consequence of this
large measure ofjustice to Ireland was an increase of
not less than fourfold in the business done by the
wires between the two islands. Where the accom-
modation was most imperfect the reduction was
greatest, and the increase of business exceeded

the ratio of the reduction. It was impossible
to meet such an enormous accession without
difficulty. The work was simply more than the
machinery was equal to, and no exertions of the
Government or of, the much esteemed and deeply
lamented companies could make good the deficient
appliances. A. gallon of liquid cannot be got into a
quart measure ; a cistern cannot be emptied by
a pipe of smaller force than that which fills it.
But though the cause of the evil is thus simple, people
persistently overlook it, and indulge, not in just
representations, but in unmeasured complaints. One
or two journals have gone so far as to print the
exact text of* some telegrams, with their inac-
curacies of grammar and construction, misplaced
capitals, and queerly contracted words, just
as if the old companies secured excellent
editing of telegrams, or as if any proprietors whatso-
ever' will be absolutely free from error.
It is not to be expected that a large body
of moderately educated and poorly paid persons,
whose attention has to be given rather to literal
than to literary accuracy, will display much skill in
prose composition. When first-rate education be-
comes general, or when telegraph clerks receive the
pay of educated persons, better results may be
looked for. _ _ _

With respect to the point at issue it is important
to bear in mind that the public gain much more than
they can possibly lose. The reduction of charges
and the improved service of news is perma•
nent ; the inconvenience is temporary. Of

course as the present shortcomings arise merely from
defective capacity, the only remedy is to increase the
number of wires, and this improvement, though a
work of some time in the case of submarine lines, will
be effected as soon as possible. It is true that the
Post-office might have waited until its machinery
was in better order before conceding a reduction. It
must be borne in mind, however, that if no altera-
tion of charges were made in one part of the country,
they could not be made in another, where the appli•
ances were quite equal to the increased working.
That the reduction was much needed is amply proved
by the results which followed it ; the delays and
irregularities arise from the favourable terms offered.
If the reduction in Ireland had been only propor-
tionate to the reduction made in England the glut
of business would not have arisen. Ireland com-
plains because she has been too highly favoured.

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

between Great Britain and France, sanctioned by
Lord Lyons (on behalf of the Queen) and the Prince
De la Tour D'Auvergne (on: behalf of the Emperor),
in September last, have been published in a Parlia-
mentary paper. The new subsidy is described as an
additional convention to the postal convention signed
by the representatives of the two nations in Septem-
ber, 1856. The new provisions exact that letters
sent Great Britain to France or Algeria weigh-
ing one third of an ounce British shall be charged
threepence postage, and letters from France to
England an equivalent fee in French coin. Letters
addressed from Great Britain or Malta to French
post offices established in Turkey, Syria, Egypt,
Tunis, or Tangiers, will under the new regulations be
charged sixpence postage for every third of an ounce
British. The same allowance in French coin to be
collected for letters transmitted in the contrary
direction.