The Bee-Hive. — 1872-09-28 (London, England)

WORK AND WAGES OF THE LONDON POSTMEN. PART 111.  The scale of wages at present in force for letter carrying is far letter carriers on the town-establishment 21s. per week, rising by an annual increment of is., to 255.; remaining at 255. until twelve years in the service, then rising again by an annual increment of is. up to 305., taking in all seventeen years to reach the maximum of 308. per week. There are also a large number of young men and boys whose wages vary from 12s. to 16s. per week, and in addition some men called auxiliary letter carriers at fixed wages of 108. The above scale of wages applies to London letter carriers only, and is the highest, rate paid. Those on the suburban, and provincial, and country staff, although doing an equal, and in many cases a greater, amount of work, including that curse of the service, Sabbath labour, receive a smaller amount of pay, the rule of arrangement appearing to be that those who do the greatest amount of work shall have the smallest amount of pay, there actually being men in the country districts in receipt of no more than Os, weekly, and this for seven days' labour.  With such low wages, and money, stamps, and articles of value constantly passing through their hands, the letter carriers are at times sorely tempted; and amongst so large a body of men, if we find some yielding to the temptation, we can scarcly be surprised. The number of convictions, in pro. portion to the number of men, employed, is undeniably too large; but doubtless by better payment could ho considerably reduced. When sorting or stamping in the office, the men aro constantly watched both by the officers in the room, and by others, who, though seeing, are unseen—spy places being contrived in all directions. One of these, which existed some years since, in tin Inland Office, consisted of a bow-window, projecting into the room, glazed with ground glass; so that a person behind could look down into the office and see clearly all that was going on, without being himself seen, should any one happen to look up. A gentleman connected with the press visited the office, and subsequently, in his account of it, incidentally mentioned this window, deprecating the system of espionage among a body of men generally trustworthy.  Soon after, the builders were at work, the bowwindow was taken down, and a largo clock put in its place. Some of the figures in the dial of this clock, instead of being painted, were cut completely through, thus forming quite as good a peep-hole as did the window, and one which did not for one day deceive the men as to its real object.  The letter carriers are also watched, while on delivery by officers called street inspectors, and, when suspicion attaches to them, by the detective officers also, Case's of dishonesty are only too frequent, in spite of all these precautions, and in spite of the everity of the sentences upon those convicted ; five to seven years' penal servitude being the minimum of punishment. One man, who had been more than twenty years in the service, was sentenced to ten years for stealing a letter containing a penny; and another to four years for stealing one containing six stamps. _  Some culprits, however, richly deserve all that they get. A sorter was once detected taking- a letter, and upon being searched, a number of empty envelopes, stamped and addressed, Were found upon him. Inquiry was nnule at this address, and it was then discovered that ho had been carrying on an artful system of rubbery for more than three years. He had during that ti rue been in the regular occupation of two lodgings ; one his genuine place of residence, the other he had taken in a false name, stating that he was a commercial traveller, and should only require the Use of his room on Sundays, and his letters taken in during the week. He then provided himself with such envelopes as were found upon him, and upon corning across any letters which he conjectured to contain anything of value, he had only to slip them into his covers, and so let them pass On to his second lodging, there to await his arrival at the end of the week, when he could, of 'course, open there at his leisure, and in perfect security. The landlady gave evidence of having taken in from thirty to forty letters for him every week during the whole of hi.; stay. If I remember rightly, his sentence was ten years. Another .delinquent, a letter earl ier, whose operations iippeitt to have been as extensive, but net So cleverly- conducted, was discovered in a somewhat curious manner. The officers of the detective department appear to have had no suspicion of him whatever; but it happened that in changing his lodgings he, with that suicidal careleesne4,l which seems to bs eliaratiteristic of some  criminals, neglected to take with him two hatboxes, which he had crammed full of stolen letters. After he had gone, the landlady, in cleaning the room, found these boxes, and, communicating with the Post-Office, his axprehension and conviction of course followed.  (To be continued in our next) 

Article type: NotIncident