The Sun.
London, England, 1850-08-16 00:00:00

REPORT ON SUNDAY POSTAL
COMMUNICATION.
We are enabled to furnish our readers with the
subjoined report upon the important question of Sun •
day Postal Communication :
TO THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS OF HER MAJESTY'S
TREASURY.
My Lords,—ln compliance with the instructions con-
tained in jour Lordship's letter of the 18th ult., we have
carefully investigated the question referred to us, viz.,
" Whether the amount of Sunday labour in the Post-
office might not be reduced, without completely putting
an end to the collection and delivery of letters, Sec.,
on Sundays," and we have the honour to report as
follows:
Your Lordships are aware that this question has
arisen out of a change in the Post-office arrangements,
which was made by the Postmaster-General on the 23d
June last, in consequence of an assurance given by her
Majesty in answer to an address of the House of Com-
mons, agreed to on the 30th of May last, representing
the great dt sire which exists in all parts of the United
Kingdom, for an extension of that rest on the Lord's-
day which is afforded in the London Post-office to the
post-offices of the provincial towns,.and praying her Ma-
jesty to direct that the collection and delivery of letters
shall in future entirely cease on Sunday in all parts of
the kingdom. The nature and extent of this change
will be best seen by referring to the " Notice" issued by
the Postmaster-General for carrying it into effect ; but
we may state briefly that it involved the suspension of
the delivery, collection, and dispatch of letters on the
Sunday, throughout the United Kingdom.
We understand that, by the reduction of Sunday la-
bour, referred to in your Lordship's instruction, is meant
a reduction in the Sunday labour as it existed before the
23d of June.
Prior to that date the state of the Post-office, as re-
gards Sunday labour, was as follows :—During the pre-
vious two years and a half the Postmaster-General had
been engaged in carrying into effect a series of care-
fully considered measures, with the view "of affording
to all connected with tbe Pest-office the utmost amount
of rest on the Sunday," which, in the opinion of his
Lordship, " is consistent with a due regard to public
convenience,"
These measures are fully described in a report to the
Postmaster-General, of 28th January last, by Mr. Row-
land Hill, which has been laid before Parliament ; and
a statement is there given of the amount of Sunday re-
lief which had at that time been afforded.
At the date of this report the relief' was, for the most
part, confined to England and Wales; but, before the ad-
dress of the 30th of May, it had been extended to Ire-
land and Scotland, and some other important improve-
ments, described in the same report as then in progress,
had been completed.
We find that, by these several measures, 8,424 persons
had been relieved on Sunday to an average extent of
nearly six hours each; that the Sunday transmission of
numerous mails had been altogether stopped; that the
ordinary rule in the provincial offices was, for the office
to close finally (except for the receipt and dispatch of
certain mails) at 10, a.m.; and that the Sundry deliveries
had in all cases been reduced to one; while in the London
office, by a transfer of duty to two travelling corps of 5
clerks each, working in the railway carriages—the one
during Saturday night and the other during Sunday
night—the ordinary Sunday force, which was originally
27 men, and which in October last was temporarily in-
creased to 52, had been reduced to 4, viz., 1 clerk and 3
messengers. These arrangements, we may add, by re-
ducing to a minimum the letters for London itself
brought in on Sunday, are wholly inconsistent with the
possibility of a Sunday delivery in London; a measure
indeed, which, as your Ldrdships are aware, was never
even contemplated.
With the view. of ascertaining the effects of the late
change, which first came into operation on the 23d of
June, the Postmaster-General, at our request, called for
certain information from the Superintendent President
of the Inland-office, and issued certain queries to the
surveyors for England and Wales. These documents are
given in the appendix.
While the surveyors concur generally in regarding
the recent change as objectionable, they show con-
siderable diversity of opinion on minor points, as might
naturally be expected from a number of gentlemen pur-
suing independent inquiries, and guided by the varying
circumstances and opinions of their respective districts.
From this very diversity one conclusion seems obvious,
viz., that it is hazardous to make a general change, such
as that recently introduced, without previous inquiry
into the effects which it is likely to produce in the
various districts over which its operation may extend, and
such modification as the requirements of different locali-
ties may demand.
As regards the chief office in London. and the minor
metropolitan offices within a radius of six miles, the
change in question has lett every thing untouched.
As regards the provincial offices, we are enabled to
state that the principal relief afforded is to the letter-
carriers, more especially those serving the rural districts.
But whatever may be the amount cf relief afforded to
the servants of the Post-office, there can be no doubt
that it has been obtained at a great sacrifice of conveni-
ence to the public ; for though, amidst the numerous
communications we have received on the subject, there
are many urging the continuance of the arrangement,
yet having regard to their general tenor, and to the se-
rious specific inconveniences complained of in many of
them, as also to the results of our own inquiries, we
have come to the conclusion that the evils touching to
the change press heavily on a large portion of the public
(not excepting the poorer classes, who cannot bear the
expense of secondary means of communication), and
have excited in many quarters a strong feeling of dis-
satisfection.
Among the evils adverted t above, the following may
be specitied—vfz., delay and inconvenience in the cor-
respondence, arising out of the transactions of the
country markets, when they fall, as they frequently do,
on the Saturday; increased risk of theft or loss, aris-
ing from the detention, during Sunday, of money let-
lets (many of which contain large remittances) ; obsta-
cles to the insurance of vessels, with delay in the an-
nouncement of their arrivals and departures; hindrance
to the detection of crime, and to the general administra-
tion of the law; delay in the transmission of information
and directions respecting legal and other sorts of busi-
ness; inconvenience to travellers, and delay in procuring
medical aid, and in summoning friends and relatives in
case of sudden illness or approaching death.
In confirmation c f these views we may refer to nu-
merous petitions to Parliament complaining of the re-
cent change.
Some idea of the extent to which these evils must
exist is afforded by the following facts:-Ist. The num-
ber of letters arriving on the Monday morning in London
has been reduced by the recent change from about
212,000 to 127,000, bring a reduction of about 85,000,
or 40 per cent.; so that, in London alone, at least that
number of letters must be delayed every week, while the
number is made up by an increase on Tuesday and the
following days, though probably not to the full extent
2d. The number of letters leaving London on the Satur-
day night is about 140,000, the greater part of which,
reaching their destination on the Sunday, are not delivered
till Monday. Moreover, the number of letters dispatched
from London on Saturday night has, as was natural, been
reduced by their non-delivery on Sunday. The extent of
this reduction appears hitherto to have averaged nearly
15,000. 3d. Whereas previous to the recent change, the
correspondence between one provincial town and another
was not interrupted at all, now all the letters posted on
the Sunday, the greater part of those posted on the Sa-
turday, and many posted on the Friday and even earlier,
are delayed (either in dispatch or delivery) throughout
the United Kingdom. Taking these circumstances into
account, we are of opinion that probably one-seventh of
all the General Post letters distributed by the Post office,
or more than 700,000 a week, are now delayed, or alto-
vet her suppressed in consequence of the recent change.
Tilis is exclusive of a very large number of newspapers.
The extent of these delays, and the manner in which
they arise, are fully explained in the able report by Mr.
William Johnson, the surveyor of the home district.
The reasons which render a complete suspension of
dispatch and delivery on the Sunday expedient in Lon-
don do not apply to the same measure when extended to
other parts of the country. Residents in London can
no longer dispatch letters on Saturday night with the
expectation of receiving answers on the Monday morning;
while residents in the provincial towns, who previously
suffered the same interruption in their correspondence
with London on one day of the week, are now subjected
to the additional inconvenience on a second day.
The truth, therefore appears to be that unless the
suspension of the Post-Office action on Sunday be limited
to the metropolis, it must be productive of very serious
Inconvenience.
It must also be remembeied that under the old arrange-
ment it was possible for a resident in London to provide
for the receipt or dispatch of a letter on the Sunday, by
sending to a post-town beyond the twelve-mite circle.
This expeditet, se frequently resorted to in cases of
emergency, prevented the people from ever before feeling
in all its force, the inconvenience arising from a total
suspension of Sunday dispatch.
Where the legitimate modes of conveyance are thus
interrupted on every side, it is natural that other modes
should be devised; and thus have arisen (as there is
reason to apprehend) evasions of the law, or at all events,
substitutionary modes of conveyances, involving not only
loss of revenue, but also Sunday labour in a new form.
Looking further to the extensive arrangements now made
for the Sunday distribution of newspapers, and to others
waiting the decision.of this question, as also to the re-
course now had to special messengers, and to the eco-
nomy of labour in the organised arrangements of the
Post-office, we are not satitied that the general effect of
the measure would be to diminish Sunday labour.
The Sunday _distribution of newspapers, referred to
above, arises of course from the fact that so many of the
weekly papers, whether in London or the country, are
nubllshed on the Saturday. Aud the refusal of the
Post-office to deliver these journals as usual has been
felt by both proprietors and readers as a great hardship.
For further information as to the effects of the recent
change we must refer to the reports of the surveyors.
Having regard to these various reasons, we consider
the restriction established by the recent order, not only
as inexpedient, but ineffectual for its main purpose.
In exercising a monopoly of postal conveyance, the
Government, as it appears to us, takes upon itself the
Yosttova hneferdt
hmn.i
egtoo
ffirous
enance3di o. t
deg:
dieesnnpaotdt nt
c at
Kingdom,ehht
diuen, r
goeta.
duty of forwarding the public correspondence without
any delay, which may not be demanded by reasons of
that
service
vtilicee
lyWbreanncehed
ofi t
thpeei eptubeluitc
in which a certain amount of Sunday labour is required;
1 laeet
txt techre
sep
tog
oe generalsnapar(dai
nca tcyi
lcui end i
aenifgl
partsde l i
even-
Dublin and Edinburgh), dates back, so far as we are
aware, from the first regular establishment of a Post-
office in this kingdom; whileday theavp non-deliveryeara
tn
in London orr the same had
dttearns
equally early origin. hav hove of
With a view, therefore, of m • king a reduction in
in
the amount of Sunday labour • a
the Post-office, as it
existed immediately before the 234 of. June .11
last, wit •