Mr. Kellaway, the new Postmaster-General, informed the House of Commons
on Thursday, June 9th, that he had aban- doned his most unhappy proposal to increase the postage on printed papers going abroad. He insisted, however, that all the other increased rates were necessary, and that the Sunday delivery which has always been made outside London must be discontinued in order to save a hypothetical million a year. The Post Office expenditure, he said, had increased from £27,400,000 before the war to 00,000,000 ; and, we may add, the service has steadily deteriorated. Mr. Kellaway attributed the increase to the war bonus, now amounting to £28,000,000. He explained the ingenious system under which, while prices are falling, th9 bureaucratic bonus is rising, and he defended it on the ground that departmental salaries did not rise with the cost of living during the war. But why should they have risen ? Why should State employees escape altogether the burden of the war ? The assumption that, while the nation was fighting for its life, certain classes should be maintained in the same comfort as before is monstrous, although it is too seldom challenged.
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