REORGANT,ZATION OF THE POST-OFFICE.
Tkrr reconstruction and improvement of the Post-office will place that department in a state of much greater- efficieney ; but it ap- pears likely also to introduce seine improvements in the general organization of the public service,, which will be, subjected to a practical trial, and will be probably extended on opportunity. Tke`main principle is that of poasi:didation and better ,subordina- tion. The two speretariee,rfeir,example,.ere united in one:; Colonel Maberly being transferred te'nnother department, mid Mr. Rowland bethming sole secretary,' ,with an improved salary, increased poiverii, • and full opportunity.. for . completing his great reform. He has twoAssistant Secretaries, with salaries ranging from. 7001. to 10601, The same liberal spirit presides over an arrangement of the clerks' salaries, presenting a regular increase, by promotion in each class; and the letter-cal-40.s are to he divided into four clasSes, promotion being 'a premium to honesty, intelligence, and diligence. All this will secure a bettereconomy, not so much by reducing the gross expenditure-7a minor eonsidcration —as by securing a better, distribution' of the expenditure, by engaging thou self-interest; • and,, what is More, ,the self-love of -the pablic serviAnte, each in his grade. For it is a great inistake to suppose thatipieinotion openitei Maly uPori the sense of' self-interest ; it has perhaps a still more poWerfpl egent. in operating, as a tacit recognition of faithful service and merit: •
Another act of liberality consists' in allotting to each. person
an anneal holiday—a fortnight for the sorters,- letter-Carriers, and inferior officers, .and a month for the clerks, without deduction of pay ;land this, by an intelligent insight into human motives and capatities, is recommended on the score of sound economy. All of these changes are likely to have a beneficial effect in stimulating the inner motives of 'the public 'servants, getting them to become constituent item's in the aggregate /id/ of the state—that, will by which alone the action d the state can be secured.,
Another reform' tends to counteract one of the greatest abuses of
the public service and one of the most modern :.extra pay for over- work is to be abolished. It is found that. those servants who Work for the extra pity labour at over hours exhaust them- selves; and are inefficient during the regular hours. This also may be taken as illustrating a principle we have mentioned above. It is notMaly the desire for the additional shillings that Makes the men work with more diligence Perhaps in- the later than in the earlier hours; but it -is also a sense that it is volunteer work, while the other work is routine; hopeless of realizing any distinct and positive recognition.' Thus 'the regular work of public officers has come to be a routine, listlessly if not reluctantly performed ; and the practice of over-work, intended to get as much out of the men with' as little pay as possible,. by adding piece-work to rou- tine, has only operated as a new abuse. Like most empirical remedies, it has proved worse than the disorder to whose real causes it does not fitly apply: What the public servants want is, not the stimulus of over-work While the routine is stamped with immutable hopelessness, but something to arouse the spirit of interest, moral as well as material, in the regular work. The fixed hours are to be to a certain extent discontinued, and the mcn will be expected to perform extra duty when extra duty is necessary; but the performance of extra duty will be regarded as constituting a claim for an increase of salary. In other words, they will enter into a public office upon somewhat the same terms that a sailor or an officer enters a ship, with a position or a range of duties generally understood, but with the expectation also of performing any service that may be absolutely necessary, and with Promotion in the prospect as the reward of recognition.
It is probable that this improvement, conceived in a spirit of
liberality as well as strictness, may i suggest an extended applica- tion of its own principles. Routine s the bane and disease of the public service ; and the more it can be broken up, consistently with practice and the acquisition of experience in the execution of du- ties, the better. If the public servants on entering an office could be placed in the position of a man or officer on board ship or in a regi- ment, with a generally understood position, range of duties, and rank, but with the liability of appointment to changing services according to changing circumstances, and with the prospect of pro- motion in rank irreapectively of mere vacancies by routine* all the motives to a diligent and efficient service would be called out. Men like to belong to a corps distinguished for its efficiently : regi- ments have been broken up because the character of the whole corps made it difficult for individuals to behave properly in it; while others to this day compel gallantry and discipline in the officers and men from the traditions that adorn their flags.
One ugly blemish indeed disfigures this excellent measure.
While reforming the Post-office, Government have adhered to a comprehensive measure of anti-reform. It was originally pro- posed that the whole patronage of the department should be placed in the hands of the Postmaster-General, in order to promote the efficiency of the department ; but the Treasury retains one portion of this patronage, and retains it on a pretext almost as disagreeable as the thing itself. Distinctions are drawn between the higher salaries, which may be the reward of meritorious Post-office ser- vants, and the lower grades, which must be given to "local per- sons "; "My Lords,' being of opinion that the public interest and the convenience of the population require those appointments to be made " through the recommendation of the Members for the town or county." This is the old plan, and we know how it works. Many of the local letter-carriers and postmasters are the oppro- brium of the department for inefficiency ; sometimes for ignorance so dense that they actually cannot decipher the addresses of letters. But the selection has its uses : this distribution of patronage furnishes a most convenient form of broadcast bribery ; it gives the Treasury the means of corrupting the Members, and. the intervention gives the Members the means of corrupting the con- stituencies; the result being an inefficient because corrupt de- partment. "My Lords" determine to retain this precious pre- serve exempt from Post-office reform, and they profess to do so for the " public interest."
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