The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-01 00:00:00

LORD COLCHESTER AND THE LETTER-

CARRIERS.

The following missive to the London letter-
carriers has just been issued :

"I am directed by the Postmaster-General to ex-
press his lordship's disapprobation of the proceed-
ings, as reported in some of the newspapers, of a
recent meeting held by a portion of your body in
the south-western district.

" You are well aware that should any case of
grievance exist, the rules of the department point
out a proper mode of representing it ; that any one
not satisfied with the result of his application may,
through his immediate official superior, send a
written statement of his case to the Postmaster-
General ; and that no obstacle of any kind is ever
offered to your meeting, in a proper manner, on any
matter connected with your interests as a body.
" You know also that complaints thus made,
stated respectfully and without wilful or gross
misrepresentation, whether emanating from a
meeting or from individuals, never bring upon any
one either loss of position, delay in promotion, or
any other disadvantage.
"Nevertheless, instead of the regular course
being adopted, and the proceedings conducted in an
open, manly, and respectful manner, the meeting
referred. to was held away from the ordinary
place of employment, and speeches were made con-
taining statements which the men who uttered
them must have known to be false, but from the
consequences of which they endeavoured to screen
themselves by concealing their names.
" The Postmaster-General holds every man who
was present at that meeting, especially those who
took an active part, responsible for its proceedings;
and he warns all others not to follow an example
tending to subvert discipline, to impede the public
service, and to bring disgrace and dismissal on those
concerned.
" Lord Colchester has the satisfaction of believ-
ing that the great majority of letter-carriers are
well-disposed, industrious, and respectable men,
who would take no part in such unjustifiable pro-
ceedings, and he believes that the actors in them
are in many cases among the least meritorious
officers, and who, therefore, are moved by a natural
antipathy to the new arrangement, which makes
merit the ground of promotion.
" His lordship also warns the letter-carriers
against the machinations of discarded officers, who,
reckless of the ruin they may bring upon others,
strive to spread disaffection in the department from
which they themselves have been removed.
" That the situation of letter-carrier is far from
being ineligible is shown by the large number of
respectable men constantly applying for appoint:-
ment—a fact at which the Postmaster-General can-
not be surprised when he compares the amount of
work and rate of wages with those-to be found in
ordinary employments. Excepting auxiliaries, who
are employed during part of their time only, the
loWest wages of any London letter-carrier (these
being obtainable by a youth of 17—often the son of
an elder letter-carrier) are 19s. a week, advancing
with every year's good service to 235. ; while those
who arc willing and able to become sorters may rise
into Classes receiving from 255. to 30s. a week, from
325. to 385., and from 40s. to 50s. ; though some of
you appear unwilling to become regular sorters,
since that office entails the loss of the Christmas-
boxes (averaging, it is believed, more than £8 a
year, and in some walks exceeding even £2O),
which are given to letter-carriers.
" His lordship reminds you that these wages are
exclusive of your uniform, of a pension in old age,
and of assistance in insuring your lives. A large
number of you also are gratuitously supplied with
medical attendance and medicine. Lastly, you have
each a fortnight's holiday in the year, which most
other working men must either forego or purchase
by the loss of a fortnight's wages. Neither should
it be forgotten that several of the foregoing advan-
tages have been granted recently, and that without
solicitation, having proceeded from a spontaneous
desire for your welfare.
" As regards work, you know that more than two
years ago you were all informed that if, after allow-
ing for temporary circumstances, caused by changes
in the walks, any letter carrier thought his duties
were more than a man of ordinary despatch might
be expected to get through in an average of eight
hours per day, he was at liberty to report his case
for consideration. But few applications, neverthe-
less, have been received ; and even in nearly all
these few cases, including, with one exception,
those recently submitted to the Postmaster-General
by a deputation of some of your body, it was found,
on careful examination, that the daily working
time, instead of exceeding eight hours, was actually
less.

" On a late occasion I was authorised by the Post-
master-General to state, that provided the body of
letter carriers conducted themselves in all respects
with propriety, his lordship would be prepared to
take a fitting opportunity to look at the question
with the view pf ascertaining whether it might not
be possible to submit to the Treasury some scheme
by which the position and prospects of the letter
carriers could be improved without their being re-
quired to qualify themselves for the duties of regu-
lar sorters.

" Progress has been made towards performing
this conditional promise ; and even for ascertaining
whether, with due regard to the public service, the
situation of letter carrier might be improved in
any other way ; but I am now directed to state,
that if any repetition shall take place of the im-
proper acts mentioned above, the Postmaster-Gene-
ral, looking to the necessity for maintaining perfect
discipline in so large a body of men, will be re-
luctantly obliged to suspend all progress of the
kind; and that but for the conviction that the
misconduct has been confined to comparatively
few men, his lordship would have felt it his duty
at once to take much more stringent measures.
" WILLIAM BOKENHAM, Controller
of the Circulation Department.
" General Post-office, Sept. 29."

;KENT ItmLwAYs.—The surveyors of the South-
Eastern Company have been employed during the . past
month in tho neighbourhood of Ightham, correcting former
surveys of the line proposed for cutting off the Reigate
angle, now about to be actively prosecuted by the company,
to meet the competition of the East Kent for the direct
Dover traffic. The object is one of such obvious necessity
that no doubt is entertained of the disposition of South-
Eastern shareholders to sanction an application to Parlia-
ment for the object, and an issue of new shares for the
capital required.
THE MILFORD RAILWAY.—The line from John-
son, on the South Wales Railway, to the town of Milford,
is now in course of rapid formation, under the superinten-
dence of the Messrs. Lucas, the contractors, and the direc-
tors expect that the railway will be completed early in the
ensuing spring, and opened for traffic not later than May
next. In connexion with this undertaking, which will give
direct access to the town of Milford, an extensive dock,
'comprising forty acres, is about to be constructed at Hakin
Point, the facilities for the construction of which will
enable the enterprising projectors to complete it at a very
small outlay. A fine shipping port is, therefore, likely soon
to be formed in connexion with the new railway, and the
shipping trade will soon possess another great and safe out-
let for America, the Mediterranean, Ireland, &c. The
Government are evidently fully alive to the advantages
which Milford affords.

A BABY SIIOT.—A singular and distressing acci-
dent has thrown the parish of Mudford into a state of ex-
, citement. The particulars of this sad case are best given in
the evidence taken at an inquest held by Mr. D. H. Ash-
ford, coroner, on Monday last, at Up-Mudford. The inquest
was held on the body of Charles Field, aged 18 months,
son of Mr. Thomas Field, yeoman. Mrs. Ann Field
deposed :—" On Friday evening, about half-past 7 o'clock,
I was in the parlour with one of my servants, named Jane
Lodge, and my child, the deceased, was held by another
servant, Georgiana Weldon, who was sitting with it in the
window. I told the girl, Jane Lodge, to take a gun out of
the room and dust it. Immediately after I heard the other
girl say, ' Oh, Jane, don't point the gun at the baby.' I
rose to speak to her, but before I could do so the gun went
off. I ran to catch the baby, and found the whole of the
charge had entered its face. I took it and carried it into
the kitchen, but it died instantly. I did not know that the
gun was loaded. I believe it had not been moved since
bird-keeping time. I think the accident happened through
ignorance." Mr. Tompkyns was sent for, and he said that
the charge had divided the jugular vein and caused instant
death. Georgiana Weldon—" was holding the child
when Jane took up the gun. Baby was laughing to see
her with it, and she then said, ' Nov, baby, I'll shoot you.'
I said, The gun isn't loaded, is it ?' She lifted it up to
the candle to see if there was a cap on it, and said, I know
it is not loaded for it has not a cap on.' She then took it
up, and the gun went off, and the charge entered the face
of the child." The inquest was adjourned.
THE NEW PEAL 'OF BELLS AT DONCASTER
Citurtcx.—Doncaster has once more its church bells. Their
presence in the new tower has been indicated for some days
past by the occasional tinkling or bolder ringing of the
workmen employed in suspending them • but on Wednes-
day their existence was proclaimed in a still more unmistake-
able manner, first by a gentle and tentative chithe, and
afterwards by a full sweep of the peal—
" Ringing uproarious ;
Sounding out glorious."
Great expectations had been formed of the quality of the
new peal, 'which has been cast at the foundry of Messrs.
Warner and Sons, Cripplegate, under the superintendence of
Mr. Denison, Q.C., who, as most of our readers are aware,
has devoted much attention to the subject of bell
casting in general, and to the manufacture of this
peal for his native town in particular. The large bells
of the new peal are heavier in proportion to the
small ones than in either of the two former peals.
The method of hanging the bell is quite new, and the prin-
ciple is undoubtedly a great improvement on the old system,
for, instead of the clapper always falling on the same place,
the bell is so fastened to the stock that it can be turned
round after it has been worn sufficiently in one place to
render such a proceeding necessary. On Wednesday night
they rung three " touches"—a "touch" being only a por-
tion of a peal—from the " grandsire triple," the " touches"
occupying from six to fifteen minutes, and the number of
changes varying from 168 to 250, the total being 8541 On
the following morning the Doncaster ringers gave another
"touch" of 350 changes from the " grandsire triple," which
they repeated during the early part of the afternoon. With
regard to the quality of the new peal, there can be little
hesitation in pronouncing it ono of the most musical in the
country. All the bells have a clear, fine, sonorous tone,
and whether' ringing or chiming, abundantly satisfy the
musical ear,