Page:The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago.djvu/43

 to the Post Office would, if treated under the ordinary machinery of the Superannuation Act, afford to my Lords the power of granting him no more than a pension of £566 13s. 4d., or at the utmost £666 13s. 4d., but it supplies, in the judgment of my Lords, an occasion of peculiar fitness for calling into action the 9th or special clause of the Superannuation Act, and thus, by a proceeding which marks their sense of his services, of drawing to those services the attention of Parliament.

The period during which Sir Rowland Hill has held office, either by a temporary or a permanent appointment, is but little in excess of 20 years; yet my Lords have to regret that while he remains full as ever of ability, energy, and resources, and of disposition to expend them for the public good, the state of his health, due, without doubt, in great part to his indefatigable labours, compels him to solicit a retirement.

It is not, however, by length of service that the merits and claims of such a man are to be measured. It is not even by any acknowledgment or reward which the Executive Government, in the exercise of the powers confided to it, can confer.

The postal system, one of the most powerful organs which modern civilisation has placed at the command of Government, has, mainly under the auspices and by the agency of Sir Rowland Hill, been, within the last quarter of a century, not merely improved, but transformed. The letters transmitted have increased nearly nine-fold, and have been carried at what may be estimated as little more than one-ninth of the former charge. In numerous respects convenience has been consulted and provided for even more than cheapness.

Upon the machinery for the transmission of letters there have been grafted other schemes, which, at a former period, would justly have been deemed visionary, for the transmission of books with other printed matter, and of money, and for receiving and storing the savings of the people.

While these arduous duties have been undertaken, the condition of the persons employed in this vast department has been improved, and, could attention be adequately drawn to what lies