19 DECEMBER 1931, Page 17

THE POST OFFICE AND THE RAILWAYS

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—You ask—Does the Post Office, even on its telephone side, cut so poor a figure beside, for example, the privately- owned railways ? I answer—Yes—and would venture to point out that the railways are nearly as much controlled by the Government as the Post Office—wages, hours of work, fares, goods rates.

But there is one important difference ; the P.M.G. has a statutory monopoly of letter-carrying, which he enforces rigorously, whereas the railways are exposed to the com- petition of anyone who can buy a second-hand motor vehicle and get a licence. The railways pay for their permanent way ; the motor-owner has his permanent way (the roads) provided for him by the ratepayers, of whom the biggest payer is the railway.—! am, Sir, &c., J. E. AMEN. 2 St. Peter's Terrace, Cambridge.