Year: 1879

favor Of Rowland Hills scheme. and in 1910 it was
carried into execution Meanwhile the WORK WORK
through had been immense His labors were
of two kinds. In the first place. ne
wanted the mechanism which rendered the princlple
of the penny post stamp practcabe in the second he
illustrated. from the noun tans of documents whicn
were the outcome OF the different committees anu
commissions. that the writing system was no longer
tenable. that it offered premium for trick,
cry and dishonesty, of every kind. and
that the reform he advocated was not
only desirable in itself. but would also be econom-
ically profitable. The actual cost of sending each
letter from London to Edinburgh being. he COM
puted considerably less than a srthing why should
it not be possible to adopt uniform rate OF post
age for allg That was the Fundamental idea OF has
scheme. Lord Melbourne who was Prime Minister
received 1t with apathy The public received 1t with
enthusiasm. And the public won.


him, Liverpool presented him With silver salver,
costly candelabra came to him from Wolverhampton.
the pottery districts avished ON him actile orns.
by valuable testimonial OF plate On jan
uary a, ls45. Mr.. Larpent chairman Of the
Postage. forwarded q check for 10000 with .
complimentary address "to the author OF the penny
postage scheme" On the return of the wings to
power in lS46 Mr.. Hill was appointed secretary to
the Postmaster General. holding divided authority
with Colonel Maberly. Eight years after. in April.
Office he became chief and sole secretary In 1850 he
received from the Queen. in acknowledgment OF his
He retired from Office in 1864 account OF the fail
OF his health through the severe labors he had
was highly complimentary and which declared
the entire success of his plans. awarded
him for life his full salary Of 9a.ooa
and most substantially by Parliamentary grant Of
f20.0O0; was awarded the first Albert gold modal OF
the Society of Arts and received the honorary degree
of d. c. L. from the University of Oxford. In 1865
he was appoinDed member of the Royal Commis-
sion on Railways. and. his views on the subject
differed from those of majority of the commission,
he made separate report.


THE CLOSING YEARS.


hat
last he lived in absolute seclusion and it is prob
able that when, some couple of years ago. move-
honor in Ss navs towS g
there were many who for the hrst time realized
the fact that Rowland Hill had not alto
gether quilted this mortal scene. In his villa
at Hampstead he lived among surroundings pleas
antly reminding him Of the successive stages Of his
work and of the feeling entertained toward him by
the great body Of his countrymen. In huge Office
desk he kept stored in various drawers all correctly
labelled, many curious specimens Of the early
history of the new postal regime. stamps for
which the collectors Of those articles would
pay many times their weight in gold-to
wit. proosheets of the early black stamps obliter-
ated with red until clever man OF business pointed
out that stamps OF faint red color. sensitive to
acids and obiterated with black would give less
opening to fraud. There were also specimens of
the famous Mulreajy envelope, proposed to
Sir Rowland Hill by his vigorous coadjutor.
Sir Henry Cole. who. anxious to import art
into the Post Office. melted Mulready to produce
design for stamped envelope. on which Britannia
is depicted Is postmistress OF the universe. with
winged messengers delivering letters to expectant
beings in every quarter OF the globe. Skirinishing
round the blank space left for the address were
camels and elephants. presumably carrying the
mails Of the future; and the extreme edge
might be described Shaun the Post, Deer
foot and Laplander in driven by
reindeer all engaged in postal operations. To the
despair OF the artist mind this design never be-
came current. There difficulties to oblit-
eration and in the heat Of the Post Office struggle
the artistic element vanished. To one RELIC
Of the past the possessor attached peculiar
value. II was one Of the causes Of the United
States Revolution. found among collection of
old stamps in the vaults of the Stamp office.
It was for two shillings and six pence and was in
tended to be struck upon something colonial had
not the late Colonel Washington ntervened. There
was also ut Hampstead kind OF Pandora's box
Allied with the plecards with which London
covered in 1S47. At the moment when
the Secretary of the Post Office work
ing hard TO reduce Sunday work the fury Of
the Sabbatarans aroused and savage on
ssught was made upon him. 1t was curious TO read
these old exploded squibs, and find Sir Rowland Hill
held up by his subordinates . species OF anti
Christ because he did not abolish Sunday work
altogether. There caricatures of him, too, in
which the pleasant methodical old gentleman was
represented q demon postman, the very father of
evil himself. delivering letters on Sunday morning.
Other records Of useful and successful career
slowed away in tiny drawers all properly marked
and arranged in due order. BUT such q his
could possess no monument so enduring or valuable
that of the good work with which it is identified
and which has its abiding memorial in the gratitude
of every class of the cOmmunity.