HALF AN INCH TOO SHORT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 70, 8 January 1947, Page 6

HALF AN INCH TOO SHORT

NO PENSION FOR POSTMAN ANOMALOUS CASE AT BATTERSEA After 55 years of faithful service as a London postman, George Beale, of mach-bombed Battersea, has retired at 73 years without a pension —all because of a matter of half an inch. The postal regulations laid down coldly and unequivocally that a “permanent” postie, among other necessary qualifications demanded of him, must be at least sft. 4in.

Only sft. Sgin., George Beale was thereby doomed to be a “temporary” from the very start.-Grey-haired, George is quite philosophical about it. The Post Office, he admits, made it quite clear to him at the time of the Boer War that no .matter how many years he served or how many miles of pavement he pounded, he could never have the comfort of a pension. He tried appealing but gave it up 40 years ago.

Now, at 73, he must face life with what little he has been able to save from his £4 a week or less. Why must a postman be sft. 4in.? The Assistant Postmaster-General, Mr Burke, supplies the answer. It is because the top shelf of a G.P.O. sorting frame is sft. Bin. high and (officially) if a postman is less than 64in. he cannot each it.

There is even more to it. Some sinister persons have their front door knockers too high for a little man to reach; others fix the apertures of their letter boxes beyond those all important, officially prescribed 64in.

"lnat, explamau-rt-Grr-G-sortmg officer, “is why we have so few native postmen in Glasgow. They’re all too short for the job.” So moved was the London Evening Standard by the heartless fate which awaited George Beale for 55 years that it published an editorial valediction on his retirement.

One passage read: “During the most momentous years of Britain’s history, Mr Beale faithfully delivered tidings, good and bad, to the people of Battersea.

“News of battle, the Casualties of three wars; births, marriages, deaths, the raptures of lovers. All that reflects public history he pushed through countless letter boxes, but still he remained only sft. 3 4in. . . .and 'remained a ‘temporary’.” There are no postal pensions for devcftion to duty.