OUR HOME LETTER.

Evening Star, Issue 3764, 17 March 1875, Page 3

OUR HOME LETTER.

(From our own Correspondent.) London, January 25. The news of the month is remarkable for its disastrous character. We have hardly recovered from the shock of the most appalling railway accident that has ever happened in the British Islands, A heavily freighted passenger train drawn by two engines, was proceeding on the Great Western Railway from Oxford to the North, when, near Shiptcn-on-Cherweil, the foremost carriage left the rails. The couplings which attached it to the engine gave way and it was precipitated down a steep embankment. Carriage after carriage followed in hideous ruin, and when the reckoning was made it transpired that there were thirty killed, and seventy more or less seriously injured. r I h e accounts of the suffering are heart-rending. One poor fellow was found badly mutilated propped up against the wreck of one of the carriages, and, when help came, he asked to lie turned round a little, for his left hand, severed from his body, lay beside him, and he wished to avoid the sight of it. Immediately the accident occurred the leading engine was sent forward to get both lines blocked and send assistance, which was promptly provided. The inquest is now proceeding, and evidence has been offered which seems to show that the leading carriage was of a dilapidated charac ter. It was attached at Oxford, there not being sufficient room for the passengers in the other carriages. Should this be substantiated a grave responsibility will attach to those who called it into requisition. The advent of a Conservative Government was hailed with great delight by the employes of the Civil Service, who imagined that all sorts of good things would then be going. The sorters in the General Post Office, however, have been doomed to cruel disappointment. An

application for increased pay, instead of being complied with, was met with an intimation that unless it was withdrawn, and unless permission to remain was distinctly solicited, the petitioners would be relieved simultaneously from their pay and duties. It is, however, only fair to add that an increase of pay was conceded a few months ago, and that the petitioners in many cases were persons who had only recently been appointed. _ These certainly could have no cause for complaint. In his treatment of the clerks in the Savings Bank Department Lord John Manners does not appear to have been very well advised. It seems that certain statements concerning its management appeared in the newspapers which could only have been supplied by persons employed in that department. These the Post Office authorities say are untrue, and, as their authors have declined to confess themselves, the Postmaster-General has taken the extreme step of stopping all increments of salary throughout the Savings Bank branch. I sm)uld explain that throughout this service the officers do not remain at one fixed salary, but, within specified limits, receive annually a small increase. This wholesale punishment of innocent with guilty _ finds little favor with the public. If it is right to stop the increments of the Savings Bank branch, why not stop those of every officer, including Lord John Manners himself? Meantime the Savings Bank clerks have held a meeting and decided to bear the injustice with dignified silence, feeling pretty troubling themselves, his lordship s conduct will not escape criticism when Parliament meets. Whilst on the subject of the Post Office, I may here remark what a miserable parody is its present management as compared with that of the late secretary, Sir Rowland Hill The great reform which he effected in the adoption of the uniform rate of one penny was based upon sound economic principles. He demonstrated that the main source of expense to the department was not the conveyance but the sorting and delivery of letters. At that time the rate charged for letters posted and delivered m London was twopence, whilst on country letters eightpence, tenpence—all sorts of sums were charged. Sir Rowland, then Mr Hill, ascertained that the mere -cost of conveyance from Londonto Edinburgh only amounted to the thirty-sixth part of a penny, so that, assuming twopence to oe a proper charge for receiving and delivery in London, the right fee from London to Edinburgh would be twopence, plus the thirty-sixth part of a penny; and as this fraction was so small, it was obviously best to ignore it altogether and adopt a uniform rate. The uniformity in this case was based on a sound, intelligible principle—that of charging equally for services costing nearly equal; but is clearly inapplicable to the case of telegrams, where the cost of transmission does vary in some proportion to the distance. It-is evidently more expensive to construct and maintain one hundred miles of wire than ten miles, and though the expense of working the instruments be the same with a message sent through either, still it would be reasonable to debit the hundred mile message with a larger share of interest on capital and repairs. Instead of doing so, the postal authorities have adopted one rate for telegrams irrespective of distance. The London telegraphs used to be worked at a charge of fourpence, which is now raised to a shilling, and that, also, is the sum charged for messages which formerly used to pay two shillings or half-a-crown. On the whole, the senders of messages profit by the charge, but their advantage is purchased at enormous loss to the State, Owing to the unwise reductions, and to the scandalous nature of the bargain for purchase of the telegraphs, they are said to be worked at an annual loss of L 25,000, a result m striking contrast to those presented by Post Office management when in abler hands. The halfpenny post card system may at first appear to present great attractions, but, on examination, proves unsound. As above explained, it is not the transmission but the sorting of_ letters that occasions the chief expense. Now, it costs just as much to receive, sort, and deliver a post card as a letter. The saving in weight is so small as not to be worth considering, and over and above legitimate expenses there is the cost of the material in the card. J. he cost of the transmission is ascertained to be about three farthings each, so that whilst every one ounce letter gives a profit of a farthing, every post card is conveyed at a loss of a farthing. Of course it may seem veiy nice to be able to send a communication for a halfpenny instead of a penny, but the loss involved in it has to be mode good out of taxes, so that after all it amounts merely to a system of natural self-deception. There are symptoms of the postal authorities beginning to realise their mistake, for already the price of post cards has been raised from 6d to 7d per dozen, and a superior quality of thicker substance is now issued at 8d per dozen. (To be continued.)