POST-OFFICE REFORM: THE,NATION - AL
TESTIMONIAL.
-THE tribute paid to Mr. Rowland. Hill this week-might be-made, and ought to be made, the fulcrum-of a new, effort to remodel our Post-oflice system thoroughly. The penny--postage—the money orders—the increased frequency of mails—all..these are important parts of Mr. Hill's system, but,they are ,only parts of it. Their entire efficacy presupposes an extensive reconstruction of the in- ternal machinery of the office. Until this be --effected, they-are inadequately worked, and . do-mot produce-their full amount-of benefit ; the expectations of the public are constantly suffering disappointment—business combinations-fitustrated,-which would not have. been attempted but for reliance .upon-thern, or would have been attempted by some other means. Under all the.disadvantages of .having,heen worked by.inade- gusto machinery and hostile workmen, Mr. Hill's system, as far as it has been tried, has been. successful beyond what the -most sanguine had reason to expect in .so .short a time. In -1838 the number of chargeable letters -delivered - in the United King- -dom was seventy-five millions ; in -1845 it was.two hundred-and seventy-one millions. Mr. Hill estimated that the former-gross revenue would be- sustained when the letters delivered had .in- creased fivefold : it is now obvious that it will be sustained =as soon as their_number becomes four.and a half, times what it was ; and already it is about three and a half times the sum. -Mr. Dillon stated that the correspondence of. his .firm had increased since the cheap postage was adopted to four. times its . former amount, but that the private correspondence of . persons -em- ployed by them had increased tenfold. Parties who enjoy opportunities of narrowly observing the habits of the poorer classes state, that the communication by -letter- among friends and families has increased among them in, a still-more encourag- ing ratio. The . money-orders, too, have materially economized the circulating medium 'in the case of extensive traders, -who .receive large amounts in many small :payments; and—what is of far more consequence—have done much to-facilitate these- quirement of habits of forethoughtand economy/said the-main- tenance of a kindly family feeling,eamong -the poor. Morally and economically, the cheap postage, as,already placed -society in this country in advance of what it wasseven years ago ; and when the machinery is made adequate to the task it has to per- form, the effects cannot easily be exaggerated by hope. Nor are these Advantages confined within the limits of our -islands: .to no inconsiderable extent they are Already participated in by-otir dependencies ; and foreign nations .are rapidly following the example. The inventive genius of Mr. Rowland Hill, by .a skilful combination of the national, postal system .and the infant capabilities of steam locomotion hysea. and land, has set the wits of men to sharpen each other, by converse, at an accelerated rate of speed ; and has materially strengthened-the '.influence of and enlightened public opinion. There is yet vast room for extension. Much remains to be-ef- fected towards the economizing of thePost-office—" not," as Mr. Hill remarked on Wednesday evening, "by reducing the salaries or increasing the labours of the men ; but by -simplifying the mechanism of the office." This having been accomplished, the unnecessary procrastination of deliveries which still prevails may be prevented ; the- system made to embrace every part of the em- pire; and restrictions-as to weight-in a great measure doneaway with. But to -accomplish these objects, the conducting of the experiment must -be intrusted to one who sees clearly what- he aims at, and whose heart is in the business. -That Mr. Hilt pos- sesses the talent of routine administration combined with 'his inventive genius, ha" been placed beyond dispute by the success with which he .acted• as Chairman of the London .and.Brighton Railway. That his heart-is in the cause of Post-office-Reform was obvious from his.entreaties to Sir Robert'Peel, to.be allowed, at auy -pecuniary .sacrifice tohimself,.to work..out his own ,plan.
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