TO THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR.
ABUSES IN COUNTRY POST-OFFICES.
SIR—You have made very proper comments upon the tardy correc- tion which is at last commenced in the General Post-Office ; but the reform will be imperfect, unless the regulation is also extended to the Country Offices, and the whole system is purged of trading associations. In those Country Offices where the Deputy Postmaster is engaged in trade, the public interest is made conducive to private interests by an endless variety of petty manoeuvres. There was an instance in the Mirth of England, where the Postmaster was a printer and publisher of a newspaper • another paper being printed in the same town. Every communication for the rival paper was watched and ferreted out ; and every device, short of specific violation of trust, was exercised to cir- cumvent the antagonist; who was finally overcome, by the endless though secret machinations of his more fortunate competitor. Every letter that passes through such a self-serving office is subject to scru- tiny; everp address supplies an inference, which places the most pri- vate affairs and arrangements at the mercy of the officer, who speedily avails himself of his vantage-ground ; as, in former times, people be- came excisemen for a short time as a means of prying into the pro- cesses of manufactures that were then secret. If, therefore, the whole system of trading by officers in the Post- office, is not broken up in the Country as well as the Metropolis, the advantage will be but partial. It is impossible that private injury must not be committed where Postmasters are allowed to continue dealers in newspapers, or in any other commodity as retail-dealers. Unfor- tunately, the same vicious spirit applies to other portions of the reve- nue. Farmers of Post-horse Duties have been known to connect themselves with a wine-merchant ; and wo to the innkeeper who does not buy sufficient wine to conciliate him ! Every slip of the pen, and misplacing of a word or date, causes a double duty to be inflicted.
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