The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-15 00:00:00

2reeZ 11,---1-tl4-/
--)

• , ^. a.

altogether; but this mode would be far too expensive for
adoption.
20. A pursuance of these investigations will show that
similar delay would be produced as regards a portion of
all the dispatches from London made towards the end of
the week, and all arrivals there towards the beginning of
the week; the amount of derangement of course dimi-
nishing as we recede from the Sunday.
21. One point connected with the delay of the letters
now delivered on the Monday morning see ms to require
particular notice. At present, if a North American
mail reaches Liverpool on the Sunday in time for the
evening dispatch, its letters for London are included in
the first delivery of Monday morning, whereas by the
proposed change they would be delayed till Monday
afternoon, and thus be delivered, I apprehend, too late
for the business purposes of the day.
22. Another inconvenience which would arise from
the twenty-four hours' interruption of Post-office busi-
ness is, that at most places the number of blank post
days (that is, those days on which the communication
with London is delayed), would be doubled. Thus, at
Birmingham and Bristol the Saturday night's dispatch
for London remaining in effect as at present, and there-
fore Saturday continuing blank post day, Sunday would
be added as a second blank post day. So also as regards
the letters from London, Monday continuing a blank
post day for letters posted in London on Sunday, Sun-
day would fm the first time become a blank post day
for nearly all the letters posted in London on the Sa-
turday.
23. To mitigate this evil it has been proposed to
make a special dispatch of mails from London on the
Monday, at 1 A.M. It is scarcely necessary to observe
that the preparations for such a dispatch must entrench on
the Sunday; but if this objection were obviated by adopting
a somewhat late hour, the proposed dispatch would con-
sist of nearly empty bags, unless,indeedsis should tempt
the people of London to write letters on the Sunday.
Even then the number of letters, confined as it would be
to the letters of London itself, would be quite insufficient
to justify the expense.
24. Baying thus set forth, though very imperfectly,
the inconveniences that would accrue to London from
the interruption of the mails, I have to repeat the re-
mark that the same inconveniences would attach to every
provincial town, and, except the few which are as well
provided as London with railway communication, in even
greater force.
25. It is also to be remarked that thus far I have
treated each letter independently ; but it •is obvious
that with respect to all letters requiring answers the
chance of delay would be double. Weed, there are
some towns so remote from each other, even within the
island of Great Britain (as, for instance, Falmouth and
Inverness), that the delay of a day would occur let the
correspondence commence on whatever day of the week
it might.
26. The estimate of inconveaiences given thus far
is, however, made on the assumption that it would
be practicable to suspend all the operations of the
Post-office for twenty-four hours without suspend-
ing the progress of the mails for more than twenty-
four hours. But this assumption is manifestly
unwarrantable ; for, taking into account that a
cenvenient station is not to be found wherever it may
be wanted, and that time must be allowed both for irre-
gularities on the railway and for the removal and safe
stowage of the mail bags after the stoppage of the train,
as also for their replacement before the time of starting,
together with the necessary examination at each change
to secure against any omission, there must be a margin
of an hour or so before midnight on the Saturday, and
of about half as much after midnight on Sunday.
- 27. This additional interruption, the necessity for
which has been recognised by some of the advocates of
the plan, has two important consequences. In the first
place, even supposing it involved no difficulty with the
trains, it is obvious that there would be a delay of an
hour and a half in the time when the mail would reach
every succeeding station however remote; thus derang-
ing the proceedings of the department at place after
place throughout each line, and in remoter parts produc-
ing this disorder on two successive days, not only alter-
ing the hours of delivery, but also disturbing arrange-
ments with the branch mails, cross mails, and rural posts
throughout the greater part of the kingdom; and the
evil doubling itself, as it must do from its applying to
the mails in both directions, would, I fear, introduce an
amount of disorder beyond all remedy or endurance.
28. Secondly, the difficulty as respects the trains is of
a very serious character, for these being passenger trains
will, of course, pursue their route notwithstanding the
stoppage of the mail bags; and as the rule must be for
the bags to be dropped about eleven o'clock on Saturday
night and to be taken up again about thirty minutes
before oue on Monday morning, it is obvious that the
Sunday night's train, if starting at its usual time, would
reach the place where the bags were deposited the pre-
vious night too soon, and must wait an hour and a half
before the mail bogs could be allowed to proceed, and as
the passengers would never consent to such a delay,
the difficulty must be obviated either by the train start-
ing an hour and a half later on the Sunday or by the
einploymerA of a special train, either of which arrange
mcnts would throw upon the department an euormous
increase of expense, besides creating serious danger to
life and limb by the irregularity thus introduced upon
the lines of railway.
29. The above considerations must be borne in mind
in estimating the advautige to be expected from the pro-
posed change ; for as the stoppage of the mails does
not involve that of the trains, the release to be antici-
pated is limited to the servants of the Post-office. Now
the bulk of the employment connected with the pro-
gress of the mails (supposing the various towns to sus-
rend their deliveries and dispatches) would rest upon
the guards, but the stoppage of the mails would, I fear,
bring them no release on the Sunday, but only a change
in the mode of occupation, as it would, I apprehend, be
found indispensable to an efficient responsibility that
the bags, whether in motion or at rest, should remain
in their custody, and if so, even supposing all other diffi-
culties to be surmounted, and the plan to be carried out
in its highest possible integrity, the guards must still
remain on duty throughout the day.
30. Seeing how imperfect would be the relief to the
department, and how serious the interruption to the du-
ties it has to perform, it may be well also to glance at
the nature and extent of the correspondence which
would be thus interfered with.
31. The number of letters transmitted through the
Post-office averages nearly a million per day; and sup-
posing no more than an average day's letters to be in-
volved in the several delays produced by the proposed
interruption, and that one letter in a thousand contains
information of sudden illness or death, or other matter
of pressing importance, this would give nearly a thousand
cases per week in which delay would painfully interfere
with the f, clings of relatives and friends, or lead to se-
rious trouble or loss.
32, The pressure hence arising would be so painfully
felt that means would undoubtedly be resorted to for
effecting the required communication; and thus a large
amount of contraband conveyance would inevitably arise,
at once detrimental to the object of the change and in-
urious to the revenue, which would, however, further
suffer, and in far greater degree, from the extent to
which correspondence would be actually suppressed.
33. There is one view of the question in hand on
which throughout this minute I have carefully abstained
from offering any remark, feeling sure that your Lord-
ship expected and desired that I should limit my mi-
nute to those points on which I have access to peculiar
sources of information.
34. The chief conclusions arrived at in the foregoing
minute are, first, that as the collection and delivery of
letters may be suspended in any particular place without
material inconvenience to other places, such suspension
might safely be made whenever applied fur with the
general concurrence of the inhabitants.
35. Second, that, as the conveyance of the mails could
not be suspended on any part of a line without produc-
ing inconvenience to all places served by the line, the
suspension should not bo made except with the general
concurrence of all such places.
36. Third, that, to whatever extent the Sunday sus-
pension of branch mails may be thus effected, there is no
probability that either the necessities of Government or
the convenience of the public will allow of interruption
to the mails on the trunk lines.
37. Fourth, that while such interruption would pro-
duce great inconvenience throughout the Country, de-
ranging the hours of delivery and dispatch, and doubling
the number of blank post days, it would seriously affect
the convenience of London itself, delaying by twenty-
four hours the delivery of every letter and newspaper
contained in the dispatch of Saturday night, of many of
those of Saturday morning, and some even of previous
days; throwing all Sunday's delivery on Monday, and
great part of Monday morning's on Monday afternoon
or Tuesday morning, and so on, producing also a corre-
sponding delay in Monday and Tuesday's arrivals.
38. Fifth, that it would be impossible to suspend all
Post-office business for twenty-four hours without sus-
pending the conveyance of the mails for a longer time;
and that, besides producing the irregularity set forth
above, this anomaly involves insurmountable difficulties
with the railways.
39. Sixth, that even if these difficulties could be
overcome, the mere stopping of the mails would, in all
probability, add no material relief to that which would
arise from tho independent measure of suspending col-
lection and delivery.
40. Seventh, that the suspension of Post-office busi-
ness on the Sunday would interrupt the progress of a
vast number of urgent letters, thus causing much suffer-
ing, and leading to a large amount of contraband con-
veyance, which, besides injuring the revenue, would re-
produce in another form the very evil which it is in-
tended to remove.
41. However it must be regretted that insuperable
difficulties prevent a complete abolition of Sunday duty
in the department, it must be highly gratifying to your
Lordship to review the improvements commenced a year
ago with the suspension of money order business, and
which, proceeding uninterruptedly to the present time,
are now in such a state of advancement that in a few
days the Sunday duty throughout England and Wales
will have been reduced to probably little more than half
its original amount; this great benefit having been ob-
tained in such a mauner as not only not to impair, but
greatly to promote the public convenience.
sth January, 1850. (Signed) R. H.
21st January, 1850. (Signed) C.

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL NABERLY'S MINUTES FOR THE
POSTMASTER-GENERAL.
I cannot too atropily enrols my opinion against the

• 7-.7. - ~- . , ,
. -...:‘,7; ' • .
‘ .1-,5 ‘. ~, -c...• au"- • hr 4 . r. ----'# :P-4• fir ,
v. 11, it), # ri, ‘ • 5
.. V• , 4 i,‘V'')r,....._' ' ''''9 .1.,4, F4—:-\),,t-at ;754,1k: ,
V 7.3, •:• 4 *I s't
.4.
P A -4-:‘ ••• ,-.... 'I
' 4.. i• !CV I, .1%: t...
~,, , t
~. •., , •
. .....
..,.. 11141t.4.
...... . 17'. r oe I
'r," ;-.), N..
• • ~ •,,,„ ~, 0 , :.. , AlUlir -L 1- -
-' -__:, Apr,' .., •,.
~. -, ii,,,-itt • ,