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

SUSPENSION OF SUNDAY TRANS-
MISSION OF MAILS. _

The official documents relating to this subject have
just been issued, and we extract from them the report
of Mr. Rowland Hill on the Birmingham memorial,
praying for a cessation of Sunday transmission of
mails, together with the Minute of Colonel Moberly,
addressed to the Postmaster-General :
MR. ROWLAND HILL'S MINUTE.

BIRMINGHAM NEMOBIAL-SUSPENSION OF POST•OFFICE
BUSINESS ON THE SUNDAY.
The Postmaster-General.
I. In obedience to your Llrdsbip's instructions, I beg
to submit my views on the consequences that would
arise from acceding to the prayer of the memorial from
Birmingham, viz, "that the transmission and delivery of
letters may be wholly suspend:A on the Sunday."
2. Tho memorial itself enters hit() no explanation
of the arrangetnents by which such change is to be
eflected; but plans have bt en put forth in various quar-
ters, suggesting as a means the simple suspension of all

Post-office transactions, whether of collection, transmis•
sion, or delivery, for the twenty-four hours of Sanday,
thus making Sunday literally a dies non, or pause, and
leaving everything else on its present footing.
3. If this were practicable, there can be no doubt that,
whatever might be its effect upon the public convenience,
there would at least be. a highly valuable relief to the
department.
4. That, with this advantage in view, and with an
anxious desire to promote your Lordship's wish to relieve
the servants of the Post-office from all dispensable la-
bour on the Sunday, I have felt bound, while submitting
measures for this important object, to stop short of the
change in question, strongly as it has been urged upon
me by its advocates, front my conviction—first, that
such suspension is altogether impracticable as a simple
measure; for, if adopted, it would necessitate other al-
terations of a very eoznplicated character ' • and, se-
condly, that even if it could be effected, still the inevi-
table inconvenience to the public would be greater than
would be borne.
5. Still, if, with all the facts fully before it, Parliament
should resolve to incur the risk of the change, it will, of
course, become our duty to 'carry out the plan with as
much attention to.the convenience of the public, and as
near an approach to regularity in the proceedings of
the office, as so anomalous a course will admit of.
6. The proposed measure is divisible into two distinct
parts ; first, the suspension of collection and delivery; and
second, the suspension of conveyance ; and there is this
important difference between the two, viz., that while the

first may be adopted in any particular place without ma-
terially affecting the convenience of any other place, it is
obvious that the second cannot occur, even as respects
any portion of a single line of mail. without affecting the
convenience of every place which that line serves,
whether directly or indirectly. The former, therefore,
might without detriment be adopted in detail according
to the wish of each particular place, while the latter
would in justice require the general concurrence of all
places_ alung the line, or connected therewith._

7. As regards collection and delivery, London is
already in the state proposed; and though, owing partly
to the non-dispatch of letters from London on the Sun-
day, the delivery of that day in provincial towns is pro-
bably the heaviest in the week, still there could be no
insuperable obstacle to placing any other town, where
the inhabitants in general so desired it, in a similar po-
sition. There would, however, be great difficulty in
ascertaining the general wish, except in the case of cor-
porate towns, for it is hardly necessary to say that on a
subject like this the general feeling of the letter-writing
public is very imperfectly expressed by a town's meet-
ing. In the case in question it seems particularly diffi-
cult to ascertain the real desire of the parties concerned,
seeing that the Town Council and the town's meeting of
Birmingham came to decisions quite at variance with
each other.

8. What preponderance should be required in a majo-
rity thus applying for restriction it is not easy to deter-
mine. The rule proposed by the surveyors as regards
application for the Sunday suspension of a rural post
is, as your Lordship is aware, to require that the majo-
rity shall be in the receipt of six-sevenths of the letters.
9. If, however, any rule should be laid down placing
the suspension of collection and delivery in particular
places in any degree at the option of the inhabitants, I
would strongly advise that, wherever the suspension is
adopted, it should be made absolute; for a delivery at
the window, as in Edinburgh, while it affords but little
relief to the department, actually causes a great increase
in Sunday labour on the part of the public through the
employment of special messengers, besides occasioning
a scene of confusion outside the office quite inconsistent
with the object in view.
10. Wherever the Sunday delivery continued, I ap-
prehend it might still be arranged, without serious it,-
convenience to the department, for individuals to be
protected against the delivery of letters upon notifying
in writing to the postmaster their wish to that effect;
with the understanding, however, that such notice once
given should not be withdrawn without timely warning.
As to the posting of letterr, that is clearly optional with
every one.
_ _

11. As regards the suspension of conveyance, there is
no place of any importance to which we can turn for an
example. For although until lately no letters were
transmitted through London on the Sunday, yet the let-
ters on their Aay to and from London have constantly
travelled on the Sunday in all directions ; so that the
restriction lately removed in no way affected London.
letters, but only those of other towns.
12. The only cases in which such suspension has yet
been effected are, as fir as I am awate, in small rural
districts, which have applied, with a general concurrence
of the parties interested, for the discontinuance on the
Sunday of their particular branch post. If such applica-
tions became numerous, and such discontinuance conse-
quently extended, it might in time become practicable to
extend the suspension to branch posts serving severally
to many places; and, without entering into further de-
tail, it is obvious, that with the concurrence of the pub-
lic such suspension might thus be gradually carried to a
♦ery great extent. At the same time I must admit
that I have not the remotest expectation of a state
of things such as would justify the interruption of
the mails on the trunk lines, which, setting aside all
other considerations, are, I apprehend, indispensable for
the purposes of Government; for t) whatever extent
their place might be supplied by the electric telegraph, it is
clear that, even if its limited range were not a sufficient
objection to its being taken as the sole reliance, its use
would, after all, be but the substitution of one kind of
Sunday labour for another, the balance as regards
amount, notwithstanding all appearance to the contrary,
being very doubtful.
13. Independently, however, of the necessities of the
Government, I see no reason to expect that those of the
public, when fully understood, will be regarded as ad-
mitting of the interruption proposed. The various plans
put forth on the subject exhibit great misapprehension
as to the facts and possibilities of the case. Thus, it is
commonly taken for granted that the change in question
would merely put all other towns in the position which
London holds at present; the fact being that it would,
in a great degree, impose upon London the inconveni-
ences, as respects blank posts, now sustained by the pro-
vincial towns, and upon the provincial towns those now
sustained by London, each retaining its present incon-
venience undiminished.

14. Supposing for a moment that it would 'be prac-
ticable to suspend all the operations of the Post-office
for twenty-four hours without suspending the progress
of the mails for more than twenty-four hours (of which
I will speak hereafter), let it be considered how such
suspension would affect the convenience of London.

f 5. I will first deal with the dispatch of Saturday
night. The consequence of the l.ropoaed suspension
would be, that every letter or newspaper contained in
this (probably the largest dispatch of the week) would
not be delivered, whatever might be its destination, until
24 hours later than at present. Thus the letters and
newspapers of this dispatch, which are now delivered at
Harrow, Northampton, Birmingham, Liverpool, &c., on
Sunday morning, would necessarily be delayed till Mon-
day morning; those for Aberdeen, Inverness, Wicklow,
Carlow, Cork, Drogheda, Belfast, &c., which are now
delivered on the Monday morning, would be delayed
till Tuesday; and those for Wick, Thurso, &c., now de-
livered on the Tuesday, would be delayed till Wednes-
day. To illustrate this further, it may be observed, as
respects Ireland, that while in Dublin the delay would
be from mid-day on Sunday, in all other places it would
be, at earliest, from Monday to Tuesday, and in some
remote places even from Tuesday to Wednesday. A
similar observation will apply, in a great measure, to
Scotland.

16. Nay, to carry out the measure according to the
strict rule demanded, the interruption of the Saturday
night's dispatch Lmust be extended to all continental
mails, seeing that even if the letters can all be got on
board by midnight, the sailing of the Post-office .packets
(which are for the most part our own) clearly involves
as great a violation of the principle as the conveyance
of the mails by land.
17. Next as respects the letters, &c., now arriving in
London on Monday morning; first, no letter posted on
Sunday at a place more than 100 miles distant (though
on a line of railway) would be delivered in London
before Monday afternoon, even where there was a day
mail; in all other cases such letters would be delayed
till Tuesday morning. As regards places more than
about 300 miles from London (still keeping to the rail-
way), the same delay would occur .to a large part of
the letters posted on the Saturday. As regards places
not on the lines of railwpy, it is obvious that a much
smaller distance will produce the same effect; and there
are places so remote that the delay would occur even to
letters posted on Friday.
18. Thus, a letter posted on Sunday at any hour at
Birmingham or Bristol, or on Saturday after four
P.M., at Carlisle on Newcastle-on-T)ne, or on the same
day tiller twelve at noon at Dublin, Edin'ourgb, or
Glasgow, instead of being delivered in London, as now,
on. Monday morning, would be delayed till Monday after-
noon, and one posted on the Sunday at Marlborough or
Petworth, or on Saturday (after four P.M.) at Scarbo-
rough, Ilfracombe, Launceston, Honiton, Cardiff, or
Brecon; or oa Friday (after four P.M.) at Dingwall,
Wexford, Waterford, Galway, or Sligo, instead of being
delivered in London, as now, on Monday morning,
would be delayed till Tuesday morning.
19. This is on the supposition that the existing maile
only are maintained. The use of special mails would
certainly lessen the delay, though it could not prevent it